This article explores the findings behind our newly published systematic review in BMC Health Services Research: “The effectiveness and economic evidence of organizational and management interventions to promote mental wellbeing and resilience in elderly care workers and informal caregivers – a systematic review.”
Why we looked again
Support4Resilience (S4R) aims to support leaders in enhancing the mental wellbeing of workers and informal carers in elderly care. Across the sector, the work matters, the pace is relentless, and the people who care for others rarely receive the same care themselves. S4R is not the first project with this aim. As planned, we first gathered the existing research on managerial and/or organizational interventions in elderly care to promote mental wellbeing (Vartiainen et al., 2025, accepted in BMC Health Services Research). The goal was practical: to inform the S4R Toolbox with approaches leaders and teams can implement.
What surprised us: A critical gap
We expected a mixed bag. Instead, we found a gap.
For workers, the published interventions were few, and most revolved around relaxation techniques. Helpful for a moment, yes. But they do not change:
- Shift stability
- Workload
- Supervision
- Team processes
In contrast, we found multiple effective interventions for informal carers, often focused on support and counselling to improve coping.
Why that imbalance matters
Staff in elderly care face high demands, emotional labour, and frequent burnout. When the team is running on empty, quality and safety suffer. People take time off, performance drops, and turnover rises.
Everyone pays a cost: workers, residents, families, providers, and systems.
Supporting the mental wellbeing of both professional and informal caregivers is essential—not only for their own health, but also for ensuring high-quality care. When caregivers experience burnout, it can negatively affect patient satisfaction and increase the likelihood of mistakes in care delivery.
The real cost of “doing nothing”
Poor mental health carries significant economic consequences. The impact is felt on multiple levels:
- Employers: Bear costs through absenteeism and presenteeism—when employees are physically present but not fully functioning.
- Productivity: Diminished work performance due to psychosocial challenges.
- The Economy: Suffers through lost output and greater demands on healthcare and welfare systems, including disability benefits.
These consequences as such are enough to show that there is need to find ways to promote mental wellbeing at work in elderly care.
Co-creation is the lever
It was a shock that there is a big hole in literature trying to solve these problems. It may be due to a lack of infrastructure, prioritization, and resources.
Researchers cannot tackle the challenge alone. Collaboration with workplaces and stakeholders is essential.
Co-creation is not a buzzword here. It is the mechanism that makes interventions fit local context and survive beyond a pilot.
- When staff see their reality reflected in the plan, they engage.
- When leaders sponsor changes and remove barriers, progress sticks.
There is a call, a cry for help, and also researchers should respond. We want more research at work!
Read the full study
Do you want to dive deeper into the data and the specific interventions we analyzed?
Written by: Eila Kankaanpää and Anna-Kaisa Vartiainen, from University of Eastern Finland