Strategies to Support Employees with Depression: Applying the Centers for Disease Control Health Scorecard

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to investigate depression management programs in organizations of the Midwestern and Southern United States, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control Health Scorecard (CDC HSC). Organizations in this study represent retail/wholesale trade, professional, scientific, and technical services, transportation warehousing, and utilities, construction, educational services, and manufacturing. Methods: The CDC HSC is a 125 question, 264-point survey that covers a diverse set of workplace wellness initiatives, with categories such as stress management, organizational structure, physical activity, and tobacco control, and which provides a numerical score for each section. Participants were guided through CDC HSC to provide a quantitative baseline among respondents. During the survey, participants were encouraged to elaborate on their responses to explain the ways their employers address, or fail to address, health and wellness in their workplace. The study then analyzed the qualitative interview data to look for patterns and trends. Results: The research finds that businesses in the Midwest and Southern United States trail behind the standard set by the CDC Validation Study. The responses showed a lower average score for the depression portion of the CDC HSC. Conclusion: The responses in this study suggest that leaders seeking to manage depression in their workforce must be prepared to take an active role in the implementation, maintenance, and daily deployment workplace wellness initiatives. Programs need to be woven into the fabric of the average worker’s experience at the organization. The ability to access depression management initiatives must be easy to access.