ArticleBMJ public health2026
Exploring the mediating factors in the telework-mental health relationship: a cross-sectional analysis of the BELHEALTH study.
Article in BMJ public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: This study investigates the relationship between telework and mental health, focusing on mediating factors. Methods: A sample was drawn from the June 2023 wave of the BELHEALTH study, which monitors mental health trends in Belgium. The sample included 2323 employed participants aged 18-64 years. Interventional effects mediation analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between the frequency of telework (monthly, weekly, and daily) and mental health outcomes including anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7, binary), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, binary), burnout (Burnout Assessment Tool-12, scale 1-5) and work engagement (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-3, scale 1-5) through the following mediators: workload, emotional load, role conflict, autonomy, social support and skills use. Results: Telework had both direct and indirect effects on mental health. The total effect of weekly telework on work engagement was -0.1614 (95% CI -0.2286 to -0.0972; p<0.01), indicating an overall decrease in work engagement when considering indirect and direct effects. While weekly telework was not significantly associated with anxiety and depression, it was directly associated with an average increase in burnout (0.1339, 95% CI 0.0875 to 0.1801; p<0.01), and a direct decrease in average work engagement (-0.2158, 95% CI -0.2783 to -0.1505; p<0.01). Indirectly, weekly telework was linked with burnout through various job demands and resources. For example, emotional load (-0.0427, 95% CI -0.0600 to -0.0272, p<0.01), and role conflict (-0.0266, 95% CI -0.0419 to -0.0122, p<0.05) were significant mediators of burnout. Conclusions: It is essential to consider the job characteristics of employees who telework, and the resources they have available to foster healthy workplaces.
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.