Evaluation of Return to Work Rehabilitation

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Sick Leave; Occupational Health

Treatments: Behavioral: short rehabilitation program; Behavioral: long rehabilitation program; Behavioral: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01926574

2012/1241-1

Details and patient eligibility

About

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. Aim of this study is to investigate whether a group based rehabilitation program for musculoskeletal, mental or unspecific complaints can facilitate return-to-work (RTW), thereby testing two multicomponent return-to-work RTW rehabilitation programs.

Enrollment: 300 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• living in the counties of Trøndelag
• on sick leave 2-12 months
• current sick leave status of 50% - 100%
• ICPC-2 (International Classification of Primary Care, Second edition) diagnosis within the L (musculoskeletal), P (psychiatric) or A (unspecific disorders) categories

Exclusion criteria

• alcohol or drug abuse
• serious somatic or psychological disorders
• a specific disorder requiring specialized treatment
• pregnancy
• currently participating in another treatment program
• insufficient Norwegian speaking or writing skills to participate in group session and fill out questionnaires
• scheduled for surgery within the next 6 months
• serious problems with functioning in a group setting

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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300 participants in 4 patient groups

long rehabilitation

Experimental group

Description:

a 3.5-week, in-patient rehabilitation program, organized as a 7-hour workday with weekends off, simulating a close to normal summer work-week in Norway, and mainly group-based with maximum 8 participants per group. Focus on mental training (aimed at increasing motivation and self-efficacy), physical training and work-related problem solving.

Treatment:

Behavioral: long rehabilitation program

short rehabilitation

Experimental group

Description:

4+4 full days of rehabilitation at Hysnes Rehabilitation Center, separated by 2 weeks living at home. Group-based with 8 participants per group, focus on mental training (aimed at increasing motivation and self-efficacy), physical training and work-related problem solving. A workplace visit will be included in addition to the 4 + 4 rehabilitation days, if considered relevant.

Treatment:

Behavioral: short rehabilitation program

Acceptance and commitment therapy

Active Comparator group

Description:

6 dynamic processes (committed action, self-as-context, presence in the moment, values, defusion and acceptance) are targeted both in group-sessions and individual meetings. Only the psychological part of the experimental interventions is applied, in an outpatient setting.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)

Untouched

No Intervention group

Description:

this group will be followed in registers at group level and not be aware of their participation in the study