PMID- 18983652
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20090505
LR  - 20240415
IS  - 1472-6963 (Electronic)
IS  - 1472-6963 (Linking)
VI  - 8
DP  - 2008 Nov 4
TI  - Empowering employees with chronic diseases; development of an intervention aimed 
      at job retention and design of a randomised controlled trial.
PG  - 224
LID - 10.1186/1472-6963-8-224 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Persons with a chronic disease are less often employed than healthy 
      persons. If employed, many of them experience problems at work. Therefore, we 
      developed a training programme aimed at job retention. The objective of this 
      paper is to describe this intervention and to present the design of a study to 
      evaluate its effectiveness. DEVELOPMENT AND DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTION: A 
      systematic review, a needs assessment and discussions with Dutch experts led to a 
      pilot group training, tested in a pilot study. The evaluation resulted in the 
      development of a seven-session group training combined with three individual 
      counselling sessions. The training is based on an empowerment perspective that 
      aims to help individuals enhance knowledge, skills and self-awareness. These 
      advances are deemed necessary for problem solving in three stages: exploration 
      and clarification of work related problems, communication at the workplace, and 
      development and implementation of solutions. Seven themes are discussed and 
      practised in the group sessions: 1) Consequences of a chronic disease in the 
      workplace, 2) Insight into feelings and thoughts about having a chronic disease, 
      3) Communication in daily work situations, 4) Facilities for disabled employees 
      and work disability legislation, 5) How to stand up for oneself, 6) A plan to 
      solve problems, 7) Follow-up. METHODS: Participants are recruited via 
      occupational health services, patient organisations, employers, and a yearly 
      national conference on chronic diseases. They are eligible when they have a 
      chronic physical medical condition, have a paid job, and experience problems at 
      work. Workers on long-term, 100% sick leave that is expected to continue during 
      the training are excluded. After filling in the baseline questionnaire, the 
      participants are randomised to either the control or the intervention group. The 
      control group will receive no care or care as usual. Post-test mail 
      questionnaires will be sent after 4, 8, 12 and 24 months. Primary outcome 
      measures are job retention, self efficacy, fatigue and work pleasure. Secondary 
      outcome measures are work-related problems, sick leave, quality of life, acquired 
      work accommodations, burnout, and several quality of work measures. A process 
      evaluation will be conducted and satisfaction with the training, its components 
      and the training methods will be assessed. DISCUSSION: Many employees with a 
      chronic condition experience problems in performing tasks and in managing social 
      relations at work. We developed an innovative intervention that addresses 
      practical as well as psychosocial problems. The results of the study will be 
      relevant for employees, employers, occupational health professionals and human 
      resource professionals (HRM). TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN77240155.
FAU - Varekamp, Inge
AU  - Varekamp I
AD  - Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center, University of 
      Amsterdam, The Netherlands. i.varekamp@amc.nl
FAU - de Vries, Gabe
AU  - de Vries G
FAU - Heutink, Annelies
AU  - Heutink A
FAU - van Dijk, Frank J H
AU  - van Dijk FJ
LA  - eng
SI  - ISRCTN/ISRCTN77240155
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Randomized Controlled Trial
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20081104
PL  - England
TA  - BMC Health Serv Res
JT  - BMC health services research
JID - 101088677
SB  - IM
MH  - *Adaptation, Psychological
MH  - Chronic Disease/*rehabilitation
MH  - *Employment, Supported
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Job Satisfaction
MH  - Occupational Health Services
MH  - Pilot Projects
MH  - Power, Psychological
MH  - *Rehabilitation, Vocational
MH  - Self Efficacy
MH  - Sick Leave
PMC - PMC2614990
EDAT- 2008/11/06 09:00
MHDA- 2009/05/06 09:00
PMCR- 2008/11/04
CRDT- 2008/11/06 09:00
PHST- 2008/08/28 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2008/11/04 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2008/11/06 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2009/05/06 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2008/11/06 09:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2008/11/04 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 1472-6963-8-224 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/1472-6963-8-224 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - BMC Health Serv Res. 2008 Nov 4;8:224. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-8-224.