Supported Employment for Refugees (SER)

Humanitarian crises related to the Syrian conflict have led to a large increase in refugees in Europe in the recent years. There is need for effective approaches to increase labor market participation among refugees, and to reduce the impact of unfavorable exclusion mechanisms among this group. The Supported Employment for Refugees (the SER-trial) is a randomized controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of Supported Employment (SE) for newly arrived refugees who are involved in the mandatory introduction program provided for all refugees in Norway. SE is an intervention that has proved effective in promoting competitive employment among patients with severe mental illness in over twenty international randomized controlled trials, and is currently being evaluated for various new patient groups in ongoing trials. The SER-trial is however the first trial to evaluate the effect of SE for the target group of refugees (who may or may not have mental illness).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Refugees
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Supported Employment (SE); Behavioral: Treatment as usual (TAU)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 66
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Bergen, Norway, 5020
    • NORCE Norwegian Research Centre

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: ADULT; OLDER_ADULT; CHILD
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Refugees in the city of Bergen, Norway
• Expressed desire to work
• Able to have a simple conversation in Norwegian or English

Exclusion Criteria:

• No expressed desire to work
• Unable to have a simple conversation in Norwegian or English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Supported Employment (SE); Follow-up with Supported Employment (SE), provided by a job specialist trained in the eight evidence-based principles of Individual Placement and Support (IPS). The SE intervention is provided in addition to the mandatory introduction program for refugees in Norway (treatment as usual).	Behavioral: Supported Employment (SE); Supported Employment
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Treatment as usual (TAU); Follow-up with treatment as usual, which involves participation in the mandatory introduction program provided for all refugees in Norway. The program includes training in Norwegian language and culture, as well as the various traditional employment schemes offered by the Norwegian labor and welfare Administration.	Behavioral: Treatment as usual (TAU); Treatment as usual

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Competitive employment (register data and log books)	Competitive employment will be assessed using register data from the State Register of Employers and Employees. Analyses will be carried out using both intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses. For per protocol analyses, log books from the service providers in the intervention group will be used.	12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Acculturation (survey data)	Acculturation will be assessed using the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA)	12 months
Psychological distress (survey data)	Psychological distress will be assessed using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25)	12 months
Posttraumatic stress (survey data)	Posttraumatic stress will be assessed using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)	12 months
Global well-being (survey data)	Global well-being will be assessed using a 10-point Cantril Ladder Scale	12 months
Health-related quality of life (survey data)	Health-related quality of life will be assessed using the Euro-Qol Visual Analog Scale	12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS
• Collaborators: Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Vigdis Sveinsdottir, PhD, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre; Principal Investigator: Tonje Fyhn, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): May 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): April 30, 2020
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): May 30, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 9, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 10, 2018
• First Posted (ACTUAL): August 14, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): September 16, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 15, 2020
• Last Verified: September 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Mental Health; Employment; Refugees; Vocational Rehabilitation; Supported Employment; Individual Placement and Support
• Other Study ID Numbers: 811270

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

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

Drug and device information, study documents

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