Work and depression: a systematic review of the international qualitative literature

https://doi.org/10.5935/rpot/e26808

Abstract

This qualitative systematic review investigated the relationship between work and depression in the international literature of the last decade. Guided by the PRISMA protocol, the inductive thematic analysis of 26 studies resulted in three themes: (a) positive factors (work as a therapeutic and facilitating resource); (b) negative factors (work implicated in illness or as a barrier); and (c) effects of depression on work. The themes reveal the paradoxical nature of this relationship: work can operate as both therapeutic and illness-inducing. The findings indicate that the insights provided by the literature for understanding this paradox are situated predominantly at the level of the external work context, identifying what facilitates well-being or contributes to illness, while paying less attention to how these elements acquire meaning in subjective experience. A dialogue is proposed with perspectives that conceive work as activity and emphasize meaning-making processes, suggesting future research on the (im)possibilities of meaning production at work and their implications for the depressive experience.