Benefits Counseling to Preserve Function Among Disability Applicants

February 10, 2016 updated by: VA Office of Research and Development
This study will address the problem that claimants with psychiatric disabilities who apply for and receive disability benefits go on to work less than those whose claims are denied.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The objective of this research is to conduct a 6-month randomized clinical trial comparing participants assigned to Benefits Counseling and to those assigned to the control condition, VA Orientation. Benefits Counseling is an adaptation of two counseling approaches to foster veterans' involvement in work and work-related activity compared to the control condition, VA Orientation. The first approach helped recipients of Social Security disability benefits for psychiatric illness return to work in part by alleviating beneficiaries' concerns that they would lose their benefits if they worked. The second approach is a Motivational Interviewing approach that showed great promise in engaging veterans with psychiatric disabilities in compensated work therapy.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

92

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Connecticut
      • West Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06516
        • VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Has never received VBA benefits
  • Able to provide valid consent
  • Expresses willingness to discuss benefits with a counselor

  • Difficulty working as evidenced by a "Yes" to either (a), (b), or (c) of the question below about work-related difficulties: During the past 4 weeks, have you had any of the following problems (such as feeling depressed and anxious):

    • Cut down on the amount of time you spent on work or other activities?
    • Accomplished less than you would like?
    • Didn't do work or other activities as carefully as usual?
  • Expresses willingness to try Benefits Counseling if assigned to it
  • An evaluation by a psychiatrist or psychologist is scheduled

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Already receiving VA payments
  • Already receiving SSI or SSDI payments
  • Has a conservator

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Arm 1
This counseling consists of four sessions each approximately 60 minutes each. The four sessions are organized as follows: a) Orientation to Benefits Counseling: Your Benefits and Your Goals b) Work and Claims c) Financial Review: Implications of Your Work Plan and d) Your Plans After the Benefits Notice. The first session focuses on the disability application process as a non-confrontational way to explore attitudes towards work. The second session more directly addresses the claimant's attitudes about work and beliefs about whether work will prevent receipt of disability benefits. The third session addresses the same issue as the second, ambivalence about work and disability, from a financial perspective. The fourth session occurs after the disability determination has been made, and it is possible the veteran may feel differently about a benefit that has been awarded.
Behavioral: Benefits Counseling
Benefits counseling is designed to improve the quality of life of disability applicants by accomplishing two functions: 1) Providing information concerning what vocational rehabilitation services are available and how they will affect receipt of disability payments, 2) Amplifying applicants' existing motivation to engage in work and related-activities, using a Motivational Interviewing approach.
Other Names:
  • Motivational Interviewing
Active Comparator: Arm 2
This will consist of four-session orientation with the sessions organized as follows: a) overview of VHA services, b) Primary Care c) Pharmacy and laboratory services and d) specialty services. After the description of each service, participants will be invited to discuss which services they plan to utilize. The counselor will provide telephone numbers and directions to the sites at which these services are provided.
Behavioral: VA Orientation
VA Orientation is designed to provide the Veteran with information regarding the services available, how to access the services and where the service is located on the VA campus.
Other Names:
  • New patient orientation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Days of Work and Work-related Activity
Time Frame: Baseline
Number of days in the past 28 spent engaged in any kind of work or related activity. Measured using a timeline follow-back calendar.
Baseline
Days of Work and Work-related Activity
Time Frame: Month 1
Number of days in the past 28 spent engaged in any kind of work or related activity. Measured using a timeline follow-back calendar.
Month 1
Days of Work and Work-related Activity
Time Frame: Month 3
Number of days in the past 28 spent engaged in any kind of work or related activity. Measured using a timeline follow-back calendar.
Month 3
Days of Work and Work-related Activity
Time Frame: Month 6
Number of days in the past 28 spent engaged in any kind of work or related activity. Measured using a timeline follow-back calendar.
Month 6

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development

Collaborators

Yale University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

December 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 11, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 11, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

July 15, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 11, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2016

Last Verified

February 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • D6432-R

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Veterans' Disability Claims

Clinical Trials on Benefits Counseling

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Luxembourg

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe