The focus of the Study on Mental Health at Work (S-MGA) is on examining the relationship between working and employment conditions, mental health, and physical functioning. Designed as a panel survey, the study captures working and employment conditions, positive and negative indicators of mental health as well as work ability and functioning longitudinally, complemented by personal factors, socio-demographic information on the respondents, and the context of the household. The study is conducted by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) was the cooperation partner until 2022.

The first survey wave of the panel study took place in 2011/2012 with 4,511 employees subject to social insurance contributions. In the second wave in 2017, 2,637 people were successfully interviewed again. Data collection in both waves was carried out by the infas Institute for Applied Social Sciences using computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI), supplemented by self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaires for self-completion (PAPI).

The data of the first two waves of S-MGA are available in an integrated form as a scientific use file (SUF) that can be used for scientific research projects. They can be accessed through the Research Data Centre of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (FDZ-BAuA). The data documentation at hand contains information on the collection, processing, and anonymisation of the data and descriptions of the variables included in the dataset.