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Cited by 29Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitationMedical Practices and RehabilitationWorkplace Health and Well-being

Cost-effectiveness of a participatory return-to-work intervention for temporary agency workers and unemployed workers sick-listed due to musculoskeletal disorders: design of a randomised controlled trial

Open access
Vermeulen, Sylvia J, Anema, Johannes R, Schellart, Antonius JM, van Mechelen, Willem, van der Beek, Allard J·2010·BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
DOI 10.1186/1471-2474-11-60PMC PMC2858719
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Within the working population there is a vulnerable group: workers without an employment contract and workers with a flexible labour market arrangement, e.g. temporary agency workers. In most cases, when sick-listed, these workers have no workplace/employer to return to. Also, for these workers access to occupational health care is limited or even absent in many countries. For this vulnerable working population there is a need for tailor-made occupational health care, including the presence of an actual return-to-work perspective. Therefore, a participatory return-to-work program has been developed based on a successful return-to-work intervention for workers, sick-listed due to low back pain.The objective of this paper is to describe the design of a randomised controlled trial to study the (cost-)effectiveness of this newly developed participatory return-to-work program adapted for temporary agency workers and unemployed workers, sick-listed due to musculoskeletal disorders, compared to usual care. METHODS/DESIGN: The design of this study is a randomised controlled trial with one year of follow-up. The study population consists of temporary agency workers and unemployed workers sick-listed between 2 and 8 weeks due to musculoskeletal disorders. The new return-to-work program is a stepwise program aimed at making a consensus-based return-to-work implementation plan with the possibility of a (therapeutic) workplace to return-to-work. Outcomes are measured at baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The primary outcome measure is duration of the sickness benefit period after the first day of reporting sick. Secondary outcome measures are: time until first return-to-work, total number of days of sickness benefit during follow-up; functional status; intensity of musculoskeletal pain; pain coping; and attitude, social influence and self-efficacy determinants. Cost-benefit is evaluated from an insurer's perspective. A process evaluation is part of this study. DISCUSSION: For sick-listed workers without an employment contract there can be gained a lot by improving occupational health care, including return-to-work guidance, and by minimising the 'labour market handicap' by creating a return-to-work perspective. In addition, reduction of sickness absence and work disability, i.e. a reduction of disability claims, may result in substantial benefits for the Dutch Social Security System. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NTR1047.

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  • Previous studies suggested that delays in accessing workers' compensation and disability insurance may have impact on productivity outcomes among working age patients with chronic pain.

    “Previous studies also suggested that delays in accessing workers' compensation and disability insurance may have impact on productivity outcomes among working age patients with chronic pain.15,45”

    From Productivity outcomes from chronic pain management interventions in the working age population; a systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as [45]

    The Background (The Dutch Social Security System; page unavailable) describes sickness and disability benefits but does not discuss delays in accessing them. Methods/Design (Outcomes; page unavailable) discusses return to work and says productivity loss is not counted for the workers studied; it does not assess whether benefit-access delays affect productivity among working-age patients with chronic pain. I searched for delays in compensation or disability-benefit access and their productivity effects. (LLM, conf=0.73)

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Grol R Wensing M Implementatie: Effectieve verbetering van de patiëntenzorg [Implementation: Effective improvement of patient care] 2006 Maarssen: Elsevier gezondheidszorg
  2. Stapleton C Classification scheme Ergonomics Abstracts Vol 2000 London: Taylor & Francis Ltd i vii

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Authors
Vermeulen, S. J., Anema, J. R., Schellart, A. J., van Mechelen, W., & van der Beek, A. J.
Affiliations
Amsterdam Public Health (NL)
Corresponding author
Anema, Johannes R
ORCID
Anema, Johannes R
Venue
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2010-03-28
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
60-60
ISSN
1471-2474 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/1471-2474-11-60
PMC
PMC2858719
OpenAlex
W2096938126
Cited by
29
References
66
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 2 · 2012: 2
FWCI
1.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
  • Digital Academic REpository of VU University Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation › Medical Practices and Rehabilitation
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
Keywords
return to work interventions, temporary agency workers, unemployed workers, sick-listed workers, musculoskeletal disorders, low back pain, cost-effectiveness, occupational health services, pain coping, self-efficacy, disability claims, social security
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Clinical Trials as Topic, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Disability Evaluation, Persons with Disabilities, Health Services Needs and Demand, Humans, Middle Aged, Musculoskeletal Diseases, National Health Programs, Netherlands, Occupational Diseases, Occupational Health Services, Rehabilitation, Vocational, Unemployment, Work Capacity Evaluation, Program Evaluation, Workload, Program Development, Treatment Outcome, Health Care Costs, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Cost of Illness, Sick Leave, Insurance, Disability, Self Efficacy, Young Adult

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