EON

Boston (EON) – A new study has found that care programs to treat depressed workers allows them to be more productive and ends up making the company more money than they spent for the care.

The study is in the September 26th issue of Journal of the American Medical Association and is titled, “Enhanced Depression Treatment and Work Outcomes.”

It has found that programs which screen for depressed workers and then treat them with the proper medications and such can yield great results for the company as a whole. The study found that not only will morale be up, but productivity rises a lot as well.

8% of all adults will have major depression at some period in their lives according to the Mood Disorders Society of Canada. The National Institute of Mental Health in Rockville, MD looked at 604 employees in a trial. 300 has the usual care when depressed while 304 had the enhanced care program.

They found that those who had the enhanced care were more likely to recover within 12 months at a ratio of 26.2% to 17.7% for the group with regular care.

The job retention rate was also far higher at 92.6% compared to 88%.