Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Reduces Depression and Alcohol Abuse, Improves Productivity

CHICAGO - Feb. 27, 2019 - PRLog -- Employee assistance programs, otherwise known as EAPs, are employer-sponsored benefits that offer confidential assessments, in-the-moment mental health support, short-term in-person counseling, referrals and follow-up services. These programs help employees deal with a wide array of concerns that affect their mental and emotional wellbeing, such as depression, stress, anxiety, grief, family problems, relationship issues, and alcohol or other substance abuse.

To most employers, the value of an EAP is based on the understanding that employees with unresolved mental health, substance use, and emotional wellbeing concerns often have troubles in their professional and personal lives that ultimately impact the organization's bottom line. Historically, EAP providers have used a variety of metrics to illustrate their ability to resolve or mitigate these concerns, such as employee utilization, referrals to external resources, satisfaction surveys or website usage. While these measurements are effective and valuable tools that help employers evaluate the reach of the program, they don't truly measure the impact of the EAP on employee health, well-being and productivity.

New research by CuraLinc Healthcare, a leading provider of employee assistance programs, suggests that EAP models with the proper construct can facilitate meaningful and lasting behavior change that leads to a decrease in absenteeism, an increase in productivity and improved health outcomes for employees who present with depression or alcohol use.

Depression

• Almost 80% of EAP participants with depression reported a measurable improvement after using the program.
• Over three out of every four employees with moderate to severe depression migrated to minimal or mild depression after EAP treatment.

Productivity

• Over 70% of employees reported improved productivity after using the EAP.
• 69% of participants with low or moderate productivity migrated to high productivity after using the EAP.

Absenteeism

• The average time missed from work due to the employee's presenting concern dropped from 12.4 hours to 3.7 hours after using the EAP.
• From among employees who missed at least 40 hours of work prior to using the EAP, only a quarter of them missed any time at all after using the program.

Alcohol Abuse

• The percentage of employees at higher alcohol risk levels dropped from 30% to 3% after EAP treatment.
• After using the EAP, 89% of employees who used or abused alcohol were considered low risk.

The aforementioned results, which can also be found at www.eapoutcomes.com, came from an analysis of data from 5,761 EAP cases that originated between January 1 and December 31, 2018. Although outcomes-related information was collected from all EAP participants, including spouses and dependents, only results from covered employees of CuraLinc clients were used in the study.

CuraLinc used the following instruments to evaluate data from EAP participants.

• Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6): Productivity
• Workplace Outcomes Suite (WOS): Absenteeism
• Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9): Depression
• Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): Alcohol Use

During the initial clinical assessment, CuraLinc offered the SPS-6 and WOS to all employees; and offered the PHQ-9 and AUDIT to employees who presented with depression and alcohol use, respectively. Using the aforementioned tools, CuraLinc followed up with participants 30 days after the case was closed to measure changes in health and productivity. The follow-up consultation also allowed CuraLinc's Case Managers to evaluate participant satisfaction with the program and profile for variations in health status or referrals to other resources.

"Each stage of our advocacy-based care path was purposefully built to maximize the likelihood of positive clinical and workplace outcomes," said CuraLinc's Vice President of Administration, David Pawlowski, LCPC, CEAP, SAP. "The results from this year's study reconfirm that an EAP with a commitment to optimizing the user experience can have a measurable impact on employee health and productivity."


About CuraLinc Healthcare
CuraLinc Healthcare provides an outcomes-driven suite of behavioral health and wellness programs to over 1,200 employers, associations, trusts and post-secondary educational institutions.  For more information, please call 800.490.1585, email info@curalinc.com or visit www.curalinc.com. Additional details regarding this study can also be found at www.eapoutcomes.com.