{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]],"date-time":"2026-07-07T11:20:14Z","timestamp":1783423214623,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":65,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]],"date-time":"2026-07-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783382400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":6,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"WIFU-Stiftung"},{"name":"Krafft-Stiftung"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,22]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Mental health is an urgent public health issue with social and economic relevance. Business families play a key economic role, yet their specific mental health challenges remain underexplored. High performance expectations, succession pressures and the wish for discretion may obscure psychological stress. The WIFU-GESUND study addresses this gap by conducting the first representative mental health survey among adult members of business families in Germany.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods and analysis<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This cross-sectional study targets adults with legal ownership in German family businesses. A representative sample will be drawn from the MARKUS database of Creditreform, supplemented by a voluntary sample via the WIFU Foundation. Data will be collected via computer-assisted web interviewing\/computer-assisted telephone interviewing using validated brief self-report screening measures, including depression (Patient Health Questionnaire), anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder), somatic complaints and selected single-item symptom indicators from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10) Symptom Rating and alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and drug use (Drug Use Disorders Identification Test). Predictors include chronic stress (Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress-Short Screening Scale for Chronic Stress), family functioning (Experience in Social Systems), self-efficacy (ASKU), impostor feelings (Impostor Phenomenon Short Scale), physical activity and business-related contextual factors. As the study does not include diagnostic assessments, it estimates positive screening results for probable mental health problems and related self-reported mental health indicators rather than diagnostic prevalence. Analyses will include descriptive statistics, comparisons with population-based reference values, regression models and exploratory analyses. Missing data will be handled using multiple imputation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Ethics and dissemination<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Ethics approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Witten\/Herdecke University (Application No. 26\/2023). Independent data collection is ensured by USUMA GmbH. Findings will be shared via peer-reviewed publications, conferences and practice-oriented formats.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Open Science Framework preregistration<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" ext-link-type=\"uri\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/osf.io\/7pcdr\">https:\/\/osf.io\/7pcdr<\/jats:ext-link>\n                      .\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-107193","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]],"date-time":"2026-07-07T11:12:26Z","timestamp":1783422746000},"page":"e107193","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Mental health outcomes and psychosocial correlates among adult members of business families in Germany (WIFU-GESUND): study protocol for a representative cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-8917-2078","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Philipp","family":"Kitta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III, Witten\/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany"},{"name":"WIFU Foundation Chair for Organization and Development of Business Families, Witten\/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Magdalena","family":"Wendt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III, Witten\/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany"},{"name":"WIFU Foundation Chair for Organization and Development of Business Families, Witten\/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jan","family":"Josupeit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Applied Health Sciences Bochum, Bochum, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Heiko","family":"Kleve","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WIFU Foundation Chair for Organization and Development of Business Families, Witten\/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tom","family":"R\u00fcsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WIFU Foundation, Witten, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christina","family":"Hunger-Schoppe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy III, Witten\/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026070704100923000_16.7.e107193.1","unstructured":"World Health Organization . 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