Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment (MWIA) in the workplace

Date18 September 2017
Pages104-112
Published date18 September 2017
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-01-2017-0002
AuthorCharlotte Burford,Silvia Davey,Alec Knight,Sadie King,Anthea Cooke,Tony Coggins
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Mental health,Public mental health
Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment
(MWIA) in the workplace
Charlotte Burford, Silvia Davey, Alec Knight, Sadie King, Anthea Cooke and Tony Coggins
Abstract
Purpose The Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment (MWIA) is an evidence-based tool that guides decision
makers, such as policy makers and service managers, about the potential impacts of a new programme or
policy change. It was initially used in urban regeneration but has subsequently been used in housing,
childrens centres and education. The purpose of this paper is to report, for the first time, on the strengths
and weaknesses of using the MWIA in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach Feedback was collected from staff who participated in stakeholder
workshops as part of the MWIA process at two different public sector organisations.
Findings The MWIA can be used as an effective workplace assessment tool and is valuable as both a
diagnostic tool and as an intervention in its own right. The MWIA generates tailored action plans focused on
addressing the organisation or team-specific issues. The weaknesses of the MWIA in the workplace are
mainly focused around management cooperation and commitmentto the process which should be screened
for prior to engaging in the full stakeholder workshop.
Originality/value This is the first report of MWIAs use in the workplace but suggests that it is a useful tool
which can be used to support workplace wellbeing, especially in relation to a policy or organisational change.
Further studies should be carried out to fully understand the impact of the MWIA in the workplace.
Keywords Wellbeing, Impact assessment, Workplace, MWIA
Paper type Case study
Introduction
Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment (MWIA) was developed over a ten-year period by the
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and partners (MWIA National Collaborative).
It has been used both nationally and internationally (West and Scott-Samuel, 2010). MWIA is an
evidence-based diagnostic tool that aims to orientate decision makers such as policy makers
and service managers towards considering the impact of policies, programmes and services on
the mental wellbeing of the target group. MWIA is a stepwise process that begins with a
desk-based screening tool and culminates in a workshop that engages multiple stakeholders
and results in co-produced action plans. The action plans aim to develop the positive impacts on
wellbeing and mitigate against any negative impacts.
MWIA was developedbased on the health impact assessmentmethodology (European Centrefor
Health Policy, 1999),an evidence review about mental wellbeing influences that includes a social
model of health and takes an assets-based approach. Initially, it was used in urban regeneration
but has since been used in housing, childrens centres and education. In addition, over the past
three years,we have been exploring, and findingsuccess, in its applicationin workplace wellbeing.
The economic benefits associated with improved workplace wellbeing, in addition to the benefits
to the individual, make it an increasingly attractive area to employers. Employees who are
physically and psychologically healthy are more productive, better at decision making, have
reduced absenteeism and reduced healthcare costs, have increased resilience, engage more
and are better at coping with uncertainty and change (Boorman, 1999; Hillier et al., 2005;
National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), 2009).
Received 27 January 2017
Revised 16 June 2017
Accepted 17 June 2017
© Charlotte Burford, Silvia Davey,
Alec Knight, Sadie King,
Anthea Cooke and Tony Coggins.
Published by Emerald Publishing
Limited. This article is published
under the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Anyone may reproduce, distribute,
translate and create derivative
works of this article (for both
commercial and non-commercial
purposes), subject to full attribution
to the original publication and
authors. The full terms of this
licence may be seen at http://
creativecommons.org/licences/by/
4.0/legalcode
The authors would like to thank
all the participants in the MWIA
workshops who took the time
to give us feedback about the
process and share their
experiences.
The authors affiliation can be
found at the end of this article.
PAGE104
j
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH
j
VOL. 16 NO. 3 2017, pp. 104-112, Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-5729 DOI 10.1108/JPMH-01-2017-0002

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