Overview

CuraLinc Healthcare added coaching as an extra support option for EAP participants in 2019 to meet the growing demand for services in sub-clinical focus areas like meditation, mindfulness and sleep fitness. Following positive feedback, coaching was expanded to support participants with mild to moderate mental health concerns who preferred coaching over counseling.

There are many reasons participants may prefer coaching over counseling:

  1. Less stigma surrounding coaching than counseling or therapy

  2. Current challenges are on the mild end of the clinical severity spectrum

  3. Personal preference for a short-term, goal-oriented, solution-focused approach

  4. Desire to learn practical skills and strategies to address challenges quickly

  5. Lack of interest in exploring the effect of past experiences on current challenges

  6. Highly motivated to learn new skills and willing to practice between sessions

Coaching is an essential component of a workforce mental health program because it engages people who may not have otherwise sought care, and it significantly improves symptoms of depression, increases work productivity and decreases absenteeism, as shown in the recent case study published in the International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 13, Issue 2, February 2023.

Download the case summary

Executive summary

Mental Health Coaching from Employee Assistance Program Improves Depression and Employee Work Outcomes: Longitudinal Results from CuraLinc Healthcare 2020-2022 (Source: International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 13, Issue 2, February 2023)

Sample size

872 employees

Summary

This was an applied naturalistic study examining changes in work and clinical outcomes after using individual mental health coaching services from an employee assistance program in the United States. The data was from 872 employee users at CuraLinc Healthcare from 2020 to 2022.

The coaching intervention included individual sessions that focused on helping the employee with personal goal setting, problem-solving and skill-building. Over two-thirds of clients engaged in coaching for support with mental health issues (anxiety 47%, depression 12% or other 9%) while others had issues of stress (19%), personal relationships (marital 8%, family 4%) or work (2%). The coaching was delivered online and usually lasted about five weeks.

The study features a Pre to Post single-group research design with self-report data collected at the start of use and again at follow-up after the last session. Repeated measures ANOVA tests found significant improvement with each result being a large size statistical effect for the outcomes: work absenteeism hours were reduced by 88% (d=0.42); work productivity level was increased by 32% (d=0.79); severity of depression symptoms was reduced by 66% (d=0.67). Exploratory analyses indicated that improvement on outcomes was experienced consistently across different sub-groups of clients based on age, gender, employer and service use factors. Having an absence problem was reduced from 42% of all clients at Pre to 7% at Post. Specific hours of missed work in the past month (measured by the Workplace Outcome Suite) changed from 6.7 hours at Pre to less than 1 hour at Post. Employees with a work productivity problem (i.e., low performance and lack of focus, measured by Stanford Presenteeism Scale) was reduced from 27% of clients at Pre to 1% at Post.

Among the subsample of clients initially with a work productivity problem, 94% achieved “reliable recovery” with a larger than chance level increase in their productivity score. The average total hours of absence and lost work productivity combined in the past month was reduced from 52.8 hours at Pre to 14.5 hours at Post. The percentage of all employees at-risk for clinical depression (measured by the PHQ-9) was reduced from 20% of coaching clients at Pre to zero at Post. Within this at-risk subgroup, 85% achieved “reliable recovery” such that the differences in their scores was greater than at chance level. Coaching services thus appear to be a viable alternative to counseling for employees interested in more goal-oriented, solution-focused type of support.

Depression

Tool used: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

  • The average employee experienced a 66% reduction in the severity of depression symptoms

  • Among the employees who were at-risk for clinical depression, 85% demonstrated a reliable clinical improvement

  • Of the 20% of employees at risk for depression prior to coaching, none were at risk after coaching

Absenteeism

Tool used: Workplace Outcomes Survey (WOS)

  • Participants missed an average of 5.9 less hours of work after coaching

  • Just 7% of participants missed 4+ hours of work due to their presenting concern after coaching, compared to 43% prior to treatment

  • 83% of participants with an absenteeism problem recovered after coaching

Productivity

Tool used: Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6)

  • After coaching, the average SPS-6 score improved from 19.8 (moderate productivity) to 26.1 (high productivity)

  • The average employee reported a 32% increase in productivity after coaching

  • 94% of employees who started coaching with a productivity problem demonstrated reliable improvement