UNCORRECTED PROOF 1 Feasibility of a worker-directed web-based intervention for employees 2 with depressive symptoms 3 Q1 Anna S. Geraedts a,b,c, ⁎, Annet M. Kleiboer a,b,c , Noortje M. Wiezer c,d , Pim Cuijpers a,b,c , 4 Willem van Mechelen b,c,e , Johannes R. Anema b,c,e 5 a Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands 6 b Q5 EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands 7 c Q6 Body@Work, Research Center Physical Activity, Work and Health, TNO-VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands 8 d TNO, Hoofddorp, Polarisavenue 15, 12132 JJ Hoofddorp, The Netherlands 9 e Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands abstract Q8 10 article info 11 Article history: 12 Received 16 May 2014 13 Received in revised form 7 July 2014 14 Accepted 8 July 2014 15 Available online xxxx 16 Keywords: 17 Depression 18 Prevention 19 Feasibility 20 Process evaluation 21 Employees 22 Occupational therapy 23 Depressive disorders are highly prevalent in the working population and lead to excessive costs. Online interven- 24 tions have shown to be effective treatments for depression but are not often applied in the work setting, despite 25 the importance of work related aspects in the development and perpetuation of depression. We developed a 26 worker-directed web-based intervention for employees with depressive symptoms named Happy@Work. A 27 process evaluation was conducted alongside a randomized controlled trial to assess the feasibility of the intervention 28 and to explore barriers and facilitators for further implementation of the intervention. Q7 Employees from different 29 companies in the Netherlands who experienced elevated depressive symptoms and were not on sick leave were 30 eligible to take part in this study. Happy@Work contains six lessons and every lesson has several assignments. 31 When completed, a coach provides feedback to assignments via the website. Process measures investigated were: 32 reach, dose delivered, dose received, and fidelity. Recruitment methods and participant satisfaction with the 33 intervention were described and analyzed as well. Data was collected at baseline and 8 weeks later via online 34 questionnaires and data registrations on the website. The implementation score of the intervention was sufficient, 35 but reach of the target population was low. The dose delivered was high, with 93.1% of participants who used the 36 intervention components that were offered to them. However, adherence to the intervention was low; the dose 37 received was 57.8%. The fidelity of the implementation of the intervention was satisfactory. Recruitment of 38 companies and participants was difficult. Participants were satisfied with the different aspects of the intervention, 39 especially with the feedback from the coach. The results of this process evaluation showed that the intervention 40 was conducted according to protocol and seems feasible for further implementation. Potential barriers to further 41 implementation of the intervention include the reach of the target population, intervention adherence and the 42 quality of the feedback. Based on the results of the effectiveness of the intervention, we do not recommend 43 further implementation of the intervention in its current form. 44 © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license 45 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). 46 47 48 49 50 1. Introduction 51 Depressive disorders are highly prevalent in the working population 52 (OECD, 2012; Wang et al., 2006) and lead to excessive costs for both 53 society and employers (Berto et al., 2000; Greenberg and Birnbaum, 54 2005; Smit et al., 2006; Thomas and Morris, 2003). About 70–85% of 55 the total costs are due to work absenteeism, work impairment and 56 loss of work productivity, which implies that companies pay the largest 57 part of the costs of depression (Lerner and Henke, 2008; Henderson 58 et al., 2005; de Graaf et al., 2011; Smit et al., 2006; Thomas and Morris, 59 2003). 60 Many studies on the treatment of depression in mental health care 61 have shown that depression can be treated effectively with different 62 types of psychotherapy such as cognitive behavior therapy, interpersonal 63 therapy, and problem solving therapy (Barth et al., 2013; Cuijpers et al., 64 2011, 2013). In the past decade, ample research has shown that these 65 treatments can also be delivered successfully through the Internet 66 (Andersson and Cuijpers, 2009; van't Hof et al., 2009; Richards and 67 Richardson, 2012; Spek et al., 2007), which has several advantages such Internet Interventions xxx (2014) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 20 5987451; fax: +31 20 5988758. E-mail addresses: a.s.geraedts@vu.nl (A.S. Geraedts), a.m.kleiboer@vu.nl (A.M. Kleiboer), noortje.wiezer@tno.nl (N.M. Wiezer), p.cuijpers@vu.nl (P. Cuijpers), w.vanmechelen@vumc.nl (W. van Mechelen), h.anema@vumc.nl (J.R. Anema). INVENT-00018; No of Pages 9 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2014.07.001 2214-7829/© 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Internet Interventions journal homepage: www.invent-journal.com/ Please cite this article as: Geraedts, A.S., et al., Feasibility of a worker-directed web-based intervention for employees with depressive symptoms, (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2014.07.001