Mental health problems are prevalent among early career researchers in the field of health sciences, and the pandemic has exposed inequities that impede professional fulfilment. For this reason, research institutions must do more to support researchers' mental health. This is the view of researchers from the Department of Biomedicine and Stanford University, who in this issue of Science present proposals to ensure employee well-being.

2021.09.17 | Helle Horskjær Hansen

The article is published to coincide with Nation Physician Suicide Awareness day in the US, Antoine de Morree says.

"In the world of academia, we often feel that we’re only as good as our next publication, grant or step up the career ladder."

Those are the words of Antoine de Morree, who just published a directive in Science, focused on researchers’ mental health. According to Dr. de Morree mental health problems are widespread among junior and early career researchers in particular, and seeking help is still frowned upon.

While institutions often offer trainings to support their employees, such trainings can easily add to the work burden. Institutes can and should also play an active role in lowering the barriers to seeking support.

When we return to the classroom and the laboratory, institutions must proactively create a flexible and supportive environment for their employees, he says.

Antoine de Morree elaborates: “Resilient organisations are dependent on resilient employees. And to promote resilience, the workplace should adopt mental health initiatives that can help employees recover from psychological difficulties". He then emphasizes that supervisors can play an active role in making a plan to support the researcher’s mental health.

"Importantly, in order to address the fear of returning to the office, institutions should consult the employees on how best to redesign workflow and schedules on the basis of what they learned during the pandemic."

He adds: "Finally, we should reassess goals in light of current challenges”. This includes considering that not everyone can be as productive as they would like, for example when they unexpectedly have to take care of their young children at home. During recruitment, we should ensure that candidates are not punished for any psychological challenges they faced or decisions they took to protect themselves and their mental health."

There is no doubt that in the short term, the time assigned to support, help and recover from psychological challenges will lead to lost opportunities, but in the long term, it will give the individual an opportunity for greater commitment.

"Of course, the workplace benefits from healthy employees – and it is therefore in their interest to support their employees by offering them the time and help they need," says Antoine de Morree.

Contact

Assistant Professor Antoine de Morree
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
demorree@biomed.au.dk