Notice2021-20931
Interventions To Prevent Work-Related Stress and Support Health Worker Mental Health; Request for Information
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 27, 2021
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announces an opportunity for the public to provide information and comments on current evidence-based, workplace and occupational safety and health interventions to prevent work-associated stress, support stress reduction, and foster positive mental health and well-being among the nation's health workers. Information and comments are also requested on interventions under development and research in progress to support and promote the mental health and well-being of health workers. NIOSH is seeking information on related best practices, promising practices, or successful programs related to providing stress prevention and mental health services to health workers. Examples of such services include, but are not limited to, employee assistance programs, screenings, supervisor trainings, workplace policies, talk therapy, mindfulness, peer support, and mobile apps.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 184 (Monday, September 27, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 184 (Monday, September 27, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53306-53308]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20931]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[Docket No. CDC-2021-0106; NIOSH-344]
Interventions To Prevent Work-Related Stress and Support Health
Worker Mental Health; Request for Information
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
announces an opportunity for the public to provide information and
comments on current evidence-based, workplace and occupational safety
and health interventions to prevent work-associated stress, support
stress reduction, and foster positive mental health and well-being
among the nation's health workers. Information and comments are also
requested on interventions under development and research in progress
to support and promote the mental health and well-being of health
workers. NIOSH is seeking information on related best practices,
promising practices, or
[[Page 53307]]
successful programs related to providing stress prevention and mental
health services to health workers. Examples of such services include,
but are not limited to, employee assistance programs, screenings,
supervisor trainings, workplace policies, talk therapy, mindfulness,
peer support, and mobile apps.
DATES: Comments must be received by November 26, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted through either of the following
two methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>
(follow the instructions for submitting comments), or
<bullet> By Mail: NIOSH Docket Office, Robert A. Taft Laboratories,
MS C-34, 1090 Tusculum Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226-1998.
Instructions: All written submissions received in response to this
notice must include the agency name (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, HHS) and docket number (CDC-2021-0106; NIOSH-344) for this
action. All relevant comments, including any personal information
provided, will be posted without change to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Weiss, Program Analyst; 1090
Tusculum Ave., MS: C-48, Cincinnati, OH 45226; telephone (855) 818-1629
(this is a toll-free number); email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#ca8483859982b8afadb98aa9aea9e4ada5bc"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="77393e38243f051210043714131459101801">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) is charged by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(Pub. L. 117-2, sec. 2704) with educating health workers and first
responders on primary prevention of mental health conditions and
substance use disorders and encouraging these professionals to identify
and seek support for their own mental health or substance use concerns.
Accordingly, CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) announces an opportunity for the public to provide
information and comments on evidence-based workplace and occupational
safety and health interventions, policies, or other activities relevant
to health care professionals and first responders, including those at
the population, organizational, or individual levels. Information and
comments are requested on related interventions under development and
research in progress. NIOSH is also seeking information on related best
practices, promising practices, or successful programs related to
providing stress prevention and mental health services to health
workers.
Health workers include everyone who works in healthcare--for public
and private providers, in clinical and community settings--such as
first responders, admitting and ward clerks, laboratory technologists
and technicians, nurses, physicians, environmental services workers,
and food service staff in healthcare settings. Health workers face many
demands at work, which may include difficult working conditions, long
work hours, rotating and irregular shifts, exposure to human suffering
and death, and increased risks for personal exposure to disease and
harm.\1\ The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these challenges and
contributed to new and worsening mental health concerns, including
burnout, compassion fatigue, depression, anxiety, substance use
disorders, and suicidal ideation. These concerns, in turn, can affect
workers' overall health, job performance, and patient care and
safety.\2\
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\1\ National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Healthcare and
Social Assistance Council. National Occupational Research Agenda for
Healthcare and Social Assistance (HCSA). February 2019. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/hcsa/pdfs/National_Occpational_Agenda_for_HCSA_February_2019-508.pdf">https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/hcsa/pdfs/National_Occpational_Agenda_for_HCSA_February_2019-508.pdf</a>.
\2\ National Academy of Medicine. Strategies to Support the
Health and Well-Being of Clinicians during the COVID-19 Outbreak.
<a href="https://nam.edu/initiatives/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/clinician-well-being-strategies-during-covid-19/">https://nam.edu/initiatives/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/clinician-well-being-strategies-during-covid-19/</a>.
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Many lower-paid or part-time health workers--such as home health
aides, orderlies, medical assistants, phlebotomists, and pharmacy
aides--may have experienced barriers preventing access to health care
services and information, including financial challenges, lack of
health insurance coverage, or lack of adequate transportation. They can
also face lack of recognition and civility (including threatened and
actual workplace violence) for the important work they do. Even health
workers who are not on the frontlines or at high risk of infection may
still encounter work demands that cause poor mental health outcomes.\3\
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\3\ See supra note 1.
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Public health workers are also at increased risk for negative
mental health consequences when responding to public health
emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where they must operate
under high-stakes conditions for extended periods of time without
relief.\4\
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\4\ Bryant-Genevier J, Rao CY, Lopes-Cardozo B, et al. Symptoms
of Depression, Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Suicidal
Ideation Among State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health
Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic -- United States, March-April
2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:947-952.
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NIOSH is interested in receiving comments and other relevant,
evidence-based information from a variety of partners, including
employers, labor unions, workers, researchers, treatment providers, and
government agencies at all levels (Federal, State, Territorial, local,
and Tribal). Information provided, including narrative evidence, data,
or anecdotes, will support nation-wide efforts to raise awareness of
mental health concerns, identify best practices to prevent and reduce
work stress and related adverse mental health outcomes, identify
workplace and community supports, and reduce stigma related to seeking
and receiving care. NIOSH may use the information provided to
assimilate the best available evidence; develop a repository of best
practices, resources, and interventions; identify and adapt tools;
improve data and surveillance; and develop trainings and resources to
inform and support employer policy change. NIOSH will also generate
awareness by conducting a national social marketing campaign to provide
tools and resources to employers, normalize the conversation around
mental health, and lower barriers for health workers seeking care for
mental health.
Commenters are not required to respond to the questions below and
may respond to as many or few as desired. While all inputs are
welcomed, comments addressing the following questions are especially
helpful:
Questions for Workplaces With Interventions and Services in Place
1. Please tell us about your experience with the development of any
preventive interventions currently in place in your workplace to help
health workers avoid work-related stress and maintain or improve their
mental health and well-being. Describe the intervention's origins and
basis, its target population, evaluation or outcome measures,
challenges and successes, as well as any other information you think is
noteworthy.
2. Please tell us about your experience with the development of any
diagnostic and/or therapeutic services offered in your workplace by the
employer or union to health workers who are experiencing stress or
difficulties with their mental health and well-being. Describe the
services' origins and bases, their target population, evaluation or
outcome measures, challenges and successes, as well as any other
information you think is noteworthy.
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3. For both preventive interventions and diagnostic/treatment
services in your workplace, please describe how widely the services are
used, how stigma associated with seeking mental health care is
addressed, and how health workers are encouraged to participate. In
your experience, how does the workplace benefit from implementing
interventions or offering services to health workers to prevent/reduce
work-related stress, to decrease stigma related to seeking and
receiving care, and to improve the mental health and well-being of
health workers?
4. Please describe any programs you are aware of that help
employers to fund or otherwise develop interventions or services to
support health worker mental health and well-being.
Questions About Workplaces
5. Please tell us about your experience with any workplace policies
designed to protect workers from stress and adverse mental health
outcomes and to address these issues. Describe the part(s) of your
organization involved in work-associated stress prevention efforts.
Questions About Health Workers' Communication Preferences
6. Please tell us about your workplace's most effective methods of
informing health workers about available interventions, services, and
workplace practices and policies, including but not limited to:
Notification channels, trusted messengers (e.g., upper management,
front line supervisor, union representatives), and efforts to reach
workers who are underserved by mental health/behavioral health
resources.
7. In your experience, do workers seek mental health and well-being
information outside the workplace and, if so, where (e.g., community-
based, faith-based)? Do health workers generally find sources of
information outside the workplace more trustworthy and credible than
employer-based programs? If so, what is the basis for this
understanding and what efforts have you undertaken to address such
concerns?
In addition to the specific questions above, NIOSH would also like
to hear from researchers currently conducting research on stress,
burnout, and other mental health and well-being concerns among a broad
range of health workers.
John J. Howard,
Administrator, World Trade Center Health Program and Director, National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2021-20931 Filed 9-24-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
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