It’s not what you do, it’s why you do it: Motives for disclosure and concealment decisions among employees with depression

Abstract

This multi‐method study examined disclosure decisions made by employees with depression as well as their motives for those decisions. In Study 1, we conducted in‐depth interviews with employees who had been diagnosed with depression to better understand why they chose to disclose or conceal their depression at work. Based on the results of the interviews, both approach and avoid motives for disclosure and concealment emerged in the analysis. Further, these motives were influenced by multiple organizational factors including social support, stigma, and diversity climate. In Study 2, we developed and validated a scale to measure approach and avoid motives for disclosure and concealement. In Study 3, we tested approach and avoid motives as mediators of the relationships between organizational factors and employee outcomes (i.e., engagement and presenteeism). We tested our model among 223 working adults with depression. Our results provided support for the hypothesized relationships among those who disclosed but not those who concealed, suggesting that when employees disclosed for approach reasons they were more likely to be engaged, and when they disclosed for avoid reasons they were more likely to engage in presenteeism. These findings provide both theoretical and practical contributions to the study of concealable identity management and to employees with mental illness.

Costs and Benefits of Undergraduates Revealing Depression to Online Science Instructors

“…This work highlights that although online science courses may be perceived as unique and relatively small aspects of students’ college experiences, the benefits students perceived from telling an online science instructor about their depression align with common benefits that individuals with CSIs anticipate across many contexts, including revealing depression to coworkers and family members ( Wisdom and Agnor, 2007 ; Kahn et al. , 2017 ; Follmer and Jones, 2021a , b ). Additionally, it is important to note that two of the benefits students perceived, the instructor gaining an understanding of students’ mental health and fostering a greater connection with the instructor, were more likely to be reported by students who had revealed their depression to instructors.…”

Disclosure of Mental Health Problems or Suicidality at Work: A Systematic Review

“…The review identified 26 studies, including 16 qualitative [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], 7 quantitative [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ] and 3 mixed-methods studies [ 52 , 53 , 54 ]. Table 1 summarizes the included studies.…”

“…All 26 selected studies focused on mental health disclosure; none sought to understand suicidality disclosure. Most of the studies were conducted in Western countries, including the United States [ 31 , 40 , 52 , 53 , 54 ], Australia [ 33 , 34 , 41 , 45 , 48 ], the United Kingdom [ 32 , 44 , 46 , 50 , 51 ], Canada [ 42 , 43 , 47 , 49 ], the Netherlands [ 30 , 35 ], Denmark [ 29 ], New Zealand [ 36 , 37 ] and Germany [ 39 ]. One study was conducted in India [ 38 ].…”

“…Qualitative studies collected data by conducting semi-structured interviews [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 44 ] and focus groups [ 29 , 30 , 39 , 41 ]. Quantitative studies used survey instruments to collect data [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ] and mixed-methods studies collected data using focus groups, semi-structured interviews and surveys [ 52 , 53 , 54 ].…”

“…Quantitative studies included descriptive analysis [ 46 ], chi-square testing [ 45 , 47 , 50 , 51 ], multi-level modelling and t -tests [ 48 ], psychometric analysis [ 49 , 50 ] and Fishers’ Exact tests [ 50 ]. Mixed-methods studies included descriptive and explanatory analysis and thematic analysis [ 52 ], inductive thematic analysis and confirmation factor analysis, descriptive statistics and reliability estimates to examine the quantitative data [ 53 ], and thematic analysis and statistical methods to analyse quantitative data, including t -tests, Pearson’s correlation and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) [ 54 ].…”