ArticleBMC public health2022
Exploring the lived experience of mental health and coping during unemployment.
Article in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Depression and Anxiety in Voluntarily Unemployed People: A Systematic Review.La Medicina del lavoro · 2024Pooled it
- Job Loss Due to COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study of Mental Health, Protective and Risk Factors.Psychological reports · 2026Trial
- How can patients with anxiety and/or depression maintain wellbeing following discharge from low-intensity interventions? A qualitative exploration of patient perspectives.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Job-search self-efficacy in unemployed individuals with mental health issues: investigating the role of self-stigma with variable-centered and person-centered approaches.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Pakistan amid WHO (World Health Organization) red listed countries and mental health risk for nurses - A cross-sectional study.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2025Article
- Is employment status associated with baseline symptoms, engagement, and outcomes in naturalistic psychotherapy? Evaluation in a large community mental health agency.Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.) · 2025Article
- Socioeconomic determinants of protective behaviors and contact patterns in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era: A cross-sectional study in Italy.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Association Between Unemployment and Mental Disorders: A Narrative Update of the Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Review
- Effectiveness of a three-component intervention supporting unemployed individuals with mental health issues in their job search and mental health recovery (3for1): study protocol of a non-randomized controlled study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Mental health and well-being at the workplace.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- Unemployment and mental health: a global study of unemployment's influence on diverse mental disorders.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUnemployment is known to involve various psychosocial challenges that can negatively impact mental health. However, the intricacies of how individuals experience these challenges and strive to cope within the context of varied sociocultural and individuating factors, remain comparatively understudied. The present qualitative study used an interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of mental health and coping during unemployment.
methodsFifteen Australian adults who had recently experienced unemployment (for ≥3 months in the last 2 years), despite being available for and able to work, participated in semi-structured interviews from August to September 2021. Maximum variation sampling ensured participants represented diverse sociodemographic backgrounds. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis within NVivo12 software.
resultsFour major themes were identified: 1) disrupted identity and direction in life; 2) navigating conflicting views of contribution and progress; 3) knowing how to cope is not enough; and 4) unemployment as a catalyst for new understandings. Unemployment disrupted participants' sense of purpose, identity and visions for the future. It signified a perceived failure to meet societal standards of value based upon the economic functions of work, which participants struggled to reconcile with their own priorities for work that satisfied psychosocial needs. Participants were aware of effective coping strategies, although these had mixed positive and negative effects on mental health, or were difficult to mobilise during unemployment. The COVID-19 pandemic, while normalising unemployment to some degree, exacerbated future uncertainty and prevented engagement with known coping strategies (e.g., social interaction). However, unemployment could also instigate growth through re-defining markers of achievement, re-aligning goals with one's core values, and developing greater compassion.
conclusionsExperiences of mental health and coping during unemployment share complex relationships both with each other and with broader personal and sociocultural contexts. Service providers may better meet the mental health needs of those experiencing unemployment by balancing the economic and psychosocial functions of work, understanding that coping is a wholistic issue that goes beyond knowledge of effective strategies, and being aware of the opportunities for self-development that unemployment can create.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.