Effect Evaluation of a Workplace Intervention Targeting Subjective Health Complaints (atWork)

Effect Evaluation of a Workplace Intervention Targeting Subjective Health Complaints on Sick Leave, Coping, Health, Job Satisfaction and Social Support

Mental disorders is one of the most frequent causes of long-term sick leave and disability pensions in Norway, and there is a need for a comprehensive, coordinated response from health and social sectors at the country level to address the burden of mental disorders. The aim of this project is to investigate if a workplace intervention with the aim to increase coping of common mental health complaints and social support can reduce sick leave and improve health.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Disorders; Depression; Back Pain; Anxiety
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: The new atWork intervention; Behavioral: The original atWork intervention

Detailed Description

The atWork intervention was established in 2007 as a new stepped-care approach to musculoskeletal complaints. The intervention consisted of workplace information meetings about musculoskeletal complaint to all employees and peer support. The atWork intervention targeting musculoskeletal complaints reduced sick leave and improved health in a randomized controlled trial. The atWork intervention has now been further developed with the aim to increase effect on sick leave and health. The intervention is now extended to include information about mental health complaints, in addition to a management course. The major societal costs and the negative consequences common mental health complaints induce underline the importance of testing if atWork is an effective way of reducing these consequences.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 1011
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Bergen, Norway
    • Torill Helene Tveito

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 67 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Norwegian primary education unit.
• Participants must be employed in one of the Norwegian primary education units participating in the study.
• Participants must have sufficient Norwegian reading and writing skills.

Exclusion Criteria:

• The organization has received the atWork intervention at an earlier time.
• Participants are not employed in one of the participating organizations.
• Participants do not have sufficient Norwegian reading and writing skills.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: The new atWork intervention; The intervention group will receive the new atWork intervention, which include a management course and workplace courses for all employees targeting mental health complaints and musculoskeletal complaints.	Behavioral: The new atWork intervention; atWork is a cognitive intervention, and uses a nondirective delivery approach. It does not prescribe any change in lifestyle, but aims at establishing an understanding of common complaints and what to do when pain and health complaints occur. All information is based on the non-injury model, where pain and complaints are not signs of injury caused by wrongdoing or "inappropriate" behavior. The consistent take home message from all parts of the intervention is that keeping up usual activities, including going to work, is beneficial for health and recovery. This group will receive one management course, two workplace courses for all employees targeting mild mental disorders and nonspecific musculoskeletal complaints, and one reflection and review meeting.
Active Comparator: The original atWork intervention; The control group will receive the original atWork intervention, targeting musculoskeletal complaint, and peer support.	Behavioral: The original atWork intervention; This group will receive three workplace courses for all employees targeting nonspecific musculoskeletal complaints, and peer support. Peer support involves selecting a peer advisor at the workplace. A peer advisor is a fellow worker without former medical training who as part of the atWork intervention receive more in-depth medical knowledge and training about nonspecific musculoskeletal complaints. The peer advisors role is to give social support and to use their local knowledge of the work place to facilitate staying at work for colleagues with health complaints.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sick leave, unit level	Sick leave at unit level will be collected through registry data from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare administration (NAV). Thus, we will collect data from all employees in participating units (approximately 100 units), not only the employees responding to questionnaires.	1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Coping Expectancies; Theoretically Originated Measure of the Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress, TOMCATS	All employees will be asked to complete questionnaires, one before the intervention and at 12 months follow-up.	1 year
Health; self-rated health, Subjective Health Complaints Inventory, SHC, Hopkins Symptom Checklist, HSCL-10		1 year
Job Satisfaction; Global Job Satisfaction, GJO, Demand-Control-Support-Questionnaire, short Swedish version		1 year
Social Support; Non directive and Directive Support Survey, NDSS-16.		1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS
• Collaborators: The Hospital of Vestfold
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Torill H Tveito, PhD, Uni Research Health

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Johnsen TL, Eriksen HR, Baste V, Indahl A, Odeen M, Tveito TH. Effect of Reassuring Information About Musculoskeletal and Mental Health Complaints at the Workplace: A Cluster Randomized Trial of the atWork Intervention. J Occup Rehabil. 2019 Jun;29(2):274-285. doi: 10.1007/s10926-018-9786-6.
• Johnsen TL, Eriksen HR, Indahl A, Tveito TH. Directive and nondirective social support in the workplace - is this social support distinction important for subjective health complaints, job satisfaction, and perception of job demands and job control? Scand J Public Health. 2018 May;46(3):358-367. doi: 10.1177/1403494817726617. Epub 2017 Aug 18.
• Johnsen TL, Indahl A, Baste V, Eriksen HR, Tveito TH. Protocol for the atWork trial: a randomised controlled trial of a workplace intervention targeting subjective health complaints. BMC Public Health. 2016 Aug 19;16(1):844. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3515-x.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 1, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): May 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 25, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 17, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): March 24, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 15, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 9, 2018
• Last Verified: May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Mental Health; Coping; Social Support; Sick leave; Subjective Health Complaints
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 9747

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO