Increasingly many people who seek specialist health care for mental health reasons are engaged in work life

The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) surveyed the development of work participation among people who sought specialist health care for mental health reasons in 2010–2023. A long-term review showed that work participation has increased, but there are still significant differences with the rest of the population.

"Our most important finding is that people who use specialist health care services due to mental health issues have better work ability or otherwise better opportunities to participate in work life than before. This has changed significantly in the 2020s," says Jarno Turunen, Senior Specialist for the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.  

The difference in work participation compared to the reference population during the year of receiving the first mental health-related F diagnosis has been slightly more than 30 percentage points throughout the 2010s. In the 2020s, this difference has narrowed to 25 percentage points. For example, in 2023, people who received specialist health care for the first time due to a general mental health disorder worked approximately 55 per cent of their possible working days. The reference population worked 80 per cent of the working days.

"Often, mental health disorders do not mean that a person is unable to work. Work can also serve as part of rehabilitation," says Matti Joensuu, Chief Researcher for the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.  

This new dataset in the Work-Life Knowledge service can be used to monitor how the individual’s work participation develops over time despite a serious mental health disorder. Changes in the level of participation may reflect changes of work life becoming more receptive and supportive of work ability. On the other hand, the development may also reflect changes in seeking treatment, treatment and rehabilitation or in the criteria or practices related to access to treatment.  

The growth in the need for specialist health care has slowed down - preventive measures must continue to be focussed on

The need for specialist health care to treat mental health disorders has increased. The data shows that the number of first visits to specialist health care has increased significantly during the period under review. However, this growth has slowed in recent years.

"Although work participation has increased in this group, mental health disorders are an increasingly significant reason for incapacity for work and low levels of work participation. It has a direct impact on the availability of workforce and the national economy," says Jarno Turunen.

"Developing basic care can partially shift the focus from expensive specialist health care towards earlier intervention and preventive measures. This would reduce the costs caused by incapacity for work," he emphasises.

"Supporting mental health at the workplace is also essential, as mental health disorders affect employees’ work ability even before they seek treatment. Work life oriented support measures can prevent sickness absences and promote staying at work," says Matti Joensuu.

Study: Work participation among people receiving specialist health care due to mental health disorders

• See the data in the Work-Life Knowledge.
• The main outcome variable of the review is the work participation (as a percentage over 12 months) in 2010–2023 by people who have received specialist health care for the first time for mental health disorders (ICD-10: F diagnoses) compared to other people of working age.  
• The extensive registry data collected in the State of the Labour Force in Finland project is used as the dataset. 
• The data was analysed as part of the Mental Health Toolkit project, which is part of the Mental Health at Work programme. The project is funded by Finland’s Sustainable Growth Programme through the EU’s one-time recovery tool (NextGeneration EU) via the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.  
  
  

Further information

• Jarno Turunen, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 30 474 2358, jarno.turunen@ttl.fi
• Matti Joensuu, Chief Researcher, tel. +358 30 474 2636, matti.joensuu@tt.fi