The mental health of the clinical workforce: a systematic review to inform human resource management to better support clinicians

Healthcare workers face imposing time pressures and growing complexities at work which leaves them at high-risk of poor mental health and wellbeing. We undertook a systematic review to provide insight into how human resource management (HRM) can more effectively support the mental health and wellbeing of the clinical workforce. Based on the review of 44 articles, we develop a shared multi-level stakeholder framework for strategic HRM to inform HR scholars and practitioners. The framework proposes that organizations and HR departments need to engage with key internal and external stakeholders to promote cultural values to support the disclosure and de-stigmatization of healthcare workers’ mental health challenges through a lived experienced workforce and specific HRM practices. This framework can be used to inform future HRM research and systematic approaches for HR practitioners to support the mental health and wellbeing of clinical workers.