Journal of Scholastic Inquiry: Business
Volume 10 Page 77
Control (2016) reported depression alone accounted for an estimated 200 million lost work days each year costing American businesses from $17 billion to $44 billion dollars annually. Healthcare workers are among those that had the highest rates of absenteeism or presenteeism (Rhodes & Collins, 2015). Anxiety disorders, panic disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, and separation anxiety disorders were the most common of all mental disorders found throughout the U.S. (World Health Organization, 2013). This research was focused on only the three most common mental disorders: stress, anxiety, and depression. This dilemma is symptomatic of the much broader problem of an increase in workers with stress, anxiety, and depression (Twenge, 2015). Twenge reported an exceptionally high rate of depression in the U.S. whether it is somatic (physical), chronic depression, or suicidal idealization. In 2017, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reported one-in-five adults in the U.S. experience a mental illness episode in a given year. In 2014, healthcare workers topped the list of professionals feeling stressed as 69 percent reported feeling stressed, and 17 percent highly stressed (Ricker, 2014). Stress, anxiety, and depression adversely impact the ability of workers to attend work and perform to their optimum capacity (Joyce et al., 2016). Studies report approximately 25% of all U.S. adults have a mental disorder and that nearly one-half of U.S. adults will develop at least one mental disorder during their lifetimes (United States Center for Disease Control, 2015). This translates to a greater need for intervention. Technology is continuously transforming the manner that individuals perform daily tasks, allowing for greater communication, and a host of other modalities (Budney et al., 2015). Technology also may be a viable solution to deliver real-time mental health therapy to workers during work hours or at home (Ali, Krevers, Sjöström, & Skärsäter, 2014). There were 11.8 million people in the U.S. employed in the healthcare industry in 2014, of those, only 3.8 million worked in hospitals (Fayer & Watson, 2015). The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics (USDLS) lists 14 of the 20 fastest-growing professions projected from 2014 to 2020, all of which are in the healthcare industry and include occupations such as home health aides, physical therapy assistants, and nurse practitioners to name a few (2015). The increase in healthcare jobs equate to a greater need for delivery of intervention for employees with stress,