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BACKGROUND: We conducted a cluster randomized trial of a workplace mental health intervention in an Australian police department. The intervention was co-designed and co-implemented with the police department. Intervention elements included tailored mental health literacy training for all members of participating police stations, and a leadership development and coaching program for station leaders. This study presents the results of a mixed-methods implementation evaluation of the trial. METHODS: Descriptive quantitative analyses characterized the extent of participation in intervention activities, complemented by a qualitative descriptive analysis of transcripts of 60 semistructured interviews with 53 persons and research team field notes. RESULTS: Participation rates in the multicomponent leadership development activities were highly variable, ranging from <10% to approximately 60% across stations. Approximately 50% of leaders and <50% of troops completed the mental health literacy training component of the intervention. Barriers to implementation included rostering challenges, high staff turnover and changes, competing work commitments, staff shortages, limited internal personnel resources to deliver the mental health literacy training, organizational cynicism, confidentiality concerns, and limited communication about the intervention by station command or station champions. Facilitators of participation were also identified, including perceived need for and benefits of the intervention, engagement at various levels, the research team's ability to create buy-in and manage stakeholder relationships, and the use of external, credible leadership development coaches. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation fell far short of expectations. The identified barriers and facilitators should be considered in the design and implementation of similar workplace mental health interventions.

BACKGROUND: In this paper, we present the protocol for a cluster-randomised trial to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of a workplace mental health intervention in the state-wide police department of the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria. n. The primary aims of the intervention are to improve psychosocial working conditions and mental health literacy, and secondarily to improve mental health and organisational outcomes. METHODS/DESIGN: The intervention was designed collaboratively with Victoria Police based on a mixed methods pilot study, and combines multi-session leadership coaching for the senior officers within stations (e.g., Sergeants, Senior Sergeants) with tailored mental health literacy training for lower and upper ranks. Intervention effectiveness will be evaluated using a two-arm cluster-randomised trial design, with 12 police stations randomly assigned to the intervention and 12 to the non-intervention/usual care control condition. Data will be collected from all police members in each station (estimated at >20 per station). Psychosocial working conditions (e.g., supervisory support, job control, job demands), mental health literacy (e.g., knowledge, confidence in assisting someone who may have a mental health problem), and mental health will be assessed using validated measures. Organisational outcomes will include organisational depression disclosure norms, organisational cynicism, and station-level sickness absence rates. The trial will be conducted following CONSORT guidelines. Identifying data will not be collected in order to protect participant privacy and to optimise participation, hence changes in primary and secondary outcomes will be assessed using a two-sample t-test comparing summary measures by arm, with weighting by cluster size. DISCUSSION: This intervention is novel in its integration of stressor-reduction and mental health literacy-enhancing strategies. Effectiveness will be rigorously evaluated, and if positive res

BACKGROUND: Mental health problems are prevalent and costly in working populations. Workplace interventions to address common mental health problems have evolved relatively independently along three main threads or disciplinary traditions: medicine, public health, and psychology. In this Debate piece, we argue that these three threads need to be integrated to optimise the prevention of mental health problems in working populations. DISCUSSION: To realise the greatest population mental health benefits, workplace mental health intervention needs to comprehensively 1) protect mental health by reducing work-related risk factors for mental health problems; 2) promote mental health by developing the positive aspects of work as well as worker strengths and positive capacities; and 3) address mental health problems among working people regardless of cause. We outline the evidence supporting such an integrated intervention approach and consider the research agenda and policy developments needed to move towards this goal, and propose the notion of integrated workplace mental health literacy. SUMMARY: An integrated approach to workplace mental health combines the strengths of medicine, public health, and psychology, and has the potential to optimise both the prevention and management of mental health problems in the workplace.