Workplace mental health encompasses employees’ emotional, psychological, functional, and social well-being within their work environment. Poor mental health among working adults is common and contributes substantially to reduced productivity, burnout, and premature workforce exit. The protocol notes that mental disorders were reported by 15% of the working-age adult population in 2019 and that stress, depression, and anxiety drive billions of lost workdays and large economic costs globally as described in the source.
Work-related outcomes are closely linked with mental health: mental ill-health reduces attendance and on-the-job functioning and may be worsened by adverse psychosocial working conditions. The protocol defines the primary work outcomes of interest as absenteeism, presenteeism, productivity/workability, job satisfaction, and return-to-work. It also emphasizes that symptom reduction does not always translate directly to restored occupational functioning, creating variability in intervention effect sizes across contexts.
Occupational therapy is highlighted as a discipline that supports participation in daily occupations and can improve mental health and work outcomes. To capture the broader evidence base, the review will use an inclusive operational definition of occupational interventions, encompassing interventions that directly target work participation and work-related mental health regardless of the delivering discipline (for example, workplace mental health programs, physical activity interventions, or vocational rehabilitation).
The authors identify a gap: while many studies evaluate specific workplace interventions, there is a lack of comprehensive syntheses that map multiple occupational interventions across the general working population and report their effects on both mental health and work-related outcomes in a single review.
The scoping review has two primary objectives: 1) to identify and categorize occupational interventions studied in the literature; and 2) to map reported effects of those interventions on predefined work-related outcomes and mental health outcomes. The intended product is a systematic map of evidence to inform future research, intervention development, and workplace policy.
The review will include peer-reviewed, English-language studies published between 2005 and 2025 that evaluate occupational interventions delivered in workplace settings with outcomes related to workplace mental health and work participation among working adults. The protocol and planned reporting follow established guidance: PRISMA-ScR for scoping reviews and PRISMA-P for protocol development. The completed PRISMA-P checklist is provided in the protocol’s supporting files, and the review protocol is registered on the Open Science Framework (OSF) as reported in the source.
Data extraction will capture both validated mental-health measures and the work-related outcomes listed above, enabling assessment of intervention impact across clinical and functional domains. The review will also categorize intervention types and map evidence by sector where reported.
A scoping review methodology was selected to explore the range, nature, and characteristics of occupational interventions in workplace settings. The scoping approach is intended to encompass heterogeneous intervention types and outcomes and to identify gaps in the literature rather than to provide pooled effect estimates. The review will be reported according to the PRISMA-ScR checklist.
Five electronic databases will be searched: Embase, CINAHL, APA PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Web of Science. Search terms and syntax were developed by two authors and reviewed by the first author. The search strategy was informed by the Population, Concept, and Context (PCC) framework. Representative search terms include population terms such as “worker” and “employee”; concept terms such as “occupational therapy” and “workplace intervention”; and context terms such as “mental health” and “work participation.” Boolean operators (AND, OR) will combine search terms. Sample search syntax and PCC mappings are provided in the protocol tables and supporting information.
The protocol frames the planned scoping review as a response to the need for a comprehensive map of occupational interventions and their impacts on both work-related and mental health outcomes. By extracting both clinical measures and real-world functional outcomes, the review aims to illuminate where interventions show promise, where evidence is inconsistent, and how effects vary across intervention types and employment sectors.
The authors note that occupation-focused supports, including structured return-to-work programs and job redesign, can facilitate recovery and improve work ability but have demonstrated variable impacts. The scoping review is intended to clarify these patterns and to provide a foundation for researchers and policymakers to design targeted studies and workplace interventions.
This protocol describes a registered scoping review that will systematically identify and categorize occupational interventions delivered in workplace settings and map reported effects on specified work-related and mental health outcomes. The resulting synthesis is intended to guide future intervention development, research priorities, and workplace policy decisions.
All relevant data supporting the protocol are included within the protocol and its supporting information files as reported by the authors. The authors stated that they received no specific funding for this work.
The authors declared no competing interests in the protocol.