Effects of Workplace Intervention in Occupational Rehabilitation on Return to Work

Effects of Workplace Intervention in Inpatient Occupational Rehabilitation on Return to Work for Persons With Somatic and/or Common Mental Health Problems. A Randomised Controlled Trial

Aim is to study the effect of a work place intervention during a multicomponent return-to-work rehabilitation program on return-to-work. The intervention is compared with inpatient rehabilitation only, and participants will be recruited from the diagnostic groups dominating the sick-leave statistics, namely musculoskeletal disorders, common mental disorders (e.g. stress, depression and anxiety), and unspecific disorders including chronic fatigue.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Disorders; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Work place intervention

Detailed Description

Long-term sick-listing from work has considerable impact on social function, on the families of the sick-listed persons, the companies they work for, and society as a whole. Hence, the need for documented effective vocational rehabilitation programs is pressing. Vocational rehabilitation services described in the scientific literature have been specific to one single or a specific group of medical conditions (e.g.low back pain). In contrast, most people on sick leave have several health complaints, and many of the factors influencing sick leave are shared regardless of disorder (e.g. social surroundings, workplace environment), calling for rehabilitation programs that can be employed for both musculoskeletal, unspecific and common mental disorders. Research indicates that interventions on the work place might facilitate return to work. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the effect of a work place intervention during a multicomponent return-to-work rehabilitation program on return-to-work.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 175
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Trondheim, Norway, 7491
    • Nowegian University of Science and Technology, Department of public health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 60 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Resident of Central Norway
• Sick-listed due to common mental disorders, musculoskeletal pain/problems, unspecific disorders and/or fatigue
• Sick-listed more than 50 %
• Sick-listed longer than 8 weeks
• Has employer and is willing to participate in a work place intervention during the rehabilitation program

Exclusion Criteria:

• is self-employed
• has, or is currently examined for, a serious somatic or psychiatric disorder
• suffers from substance abuse
• has trouble with participating in a group
• is in a rehabilitation process that will interfere with the occupational rehabilitation program
• function level is to weak to participate in the rehabilitation program

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Work place intervention; Work place intervention in addition to rehabilitation program.	Behavioral: Work place intervention; Meeting at the work place including the patient, the employer and the rehabilitation therapist. Aim of meeting is to discuss challenges and possibilities in the patient's return to work process and to make a plan for return to work.
No Intervention: Rehabilitation program only; Rehabilitation program without intervention at the work place.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of days on sick-leave	Register data from the national health and welfare services	12 months
Time until sustainable return to work	Register data from the national health and welfare services	12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Use of health services. Questionnaire. "How much of this health/social service have you used during the last 4 months?"	160 participants. "How much of this health/social service have you used during the last 4 months?" Somatic and mental health specialized care (in-patient and outpatient), general practitioner, psychologist, group therapy, physiotherapist, chiropractor, occupational rehabilitation, welfare services, complementary practitioner, emergency unit, ambulatory services, occupational health services, other treatment.	12 months
Pain. Questionnaire	Brief pain inventory (BPI). 160 participants	12 months
Health related quality of life. Questionnaire	The 15D health-related quality of life instrument. 160 participants	12 months
Psychological flexibility and acceptance. Questionnaire	Acceptance and action questionnaire and work acceptance and action questionnaire (AAQ2). 160 participants	5 months
Return to work self efficacy. Questionnaire.	Return to work self-efficacy-19 (RTWSE-19). 160 participants.	5 months
Fear and avoidance beliefs about work. Questionnaire	Fear Avoidance Belief Questionnaire (FABQ). 160 participants	5 months
Expectations about sick leave and return to work. Questionnaire	160 participants. "How long do you anticipate to be sick-listed (partly/fully)?" 3 questions.	5 months
Work ability. Single question	160 participants. "How will you rate your work ability?" (scale from 0 (no ability) to 10 (my best ability)).	5 months
Well-being at work. Single question	160 participants. "How happy are you at work?" (not at all, not so good, good. very good)	5 months
Readiness for return to work. Questionnaire	160 participants. Readiness for return to work (RRTW) questionnaire.	5 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• Collaborators: Trondheim University Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Marius S Fimland, PhD, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Rise MB, Skagseth M, Klevanger NE, Aasdahl L, Borchgrevink P, Jensen C, Tenggren H, Halsteinli V, Jacobsen TN, Loland SB, Johnsen R, Fimland MS. Design of a study evaluating the effects, health economics, and stakeholder perspectives of a multi-component occupational rehabilitation program with an added workplace intervention - a study protocol. BMC Public Health. 2018 Feb 5;18(1):219. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5130-5.
• Skagseth M, Fimland MS, Rise MB, Johnsen R, Borchgrevink PC, Aasdahl L. Effectiveness of adding a workplace intervention to an inpatient multimodal occupational rehabilitation program: A randomized clinical trial. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2020 Jul 1;46(4):356-363. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3873. Epub 2019 Dec 13.
• Klevanger NE, Fimland MS, Rise MB. Aligning stakeholders' understandings of the return-to-work process: a qualitative study on workplace meetings in inpatient multimodal occupational rehabilitation. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2021 Dec;16(1):1946927. doi: 10.1080/17482631.2021.1946927.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): March 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 18, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 2, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): September 4, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 13, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 7, 2021
• Last Verified: August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Rehabilitation; Return to Work
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Virus Diseases; Infections; Muscular Diseases; Neuromuscular Diseases; Encephalomyelitis; Mental Disorders; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2014/2279

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No