Can workers with chronic back pain shift from pain elimination to function restore at work? Qualitative evaluation of an innovative work related multidisciplinary programme

Introduction: Workers with chronic low back pain (LBP) mean a heavy human and social-economic burden. Their medical histories often include different treatments without attention to work-relatedness or communication with occupational health providers, leaving them passive and medicalized in (outpatient) health care. So we developed and...

Depressed and absent from work: Predicting prolonged depressive symptomatology among employees

Background: The World Health Organization considers depression a major health problem and a leading cause of disability. Aim To identify factors which may help to reduce depressive symptoms in a sample of employees sick listed due to mental health problems. Methods: Longitudinal cohort study of employees sick listed for 12-20 weeks due to mental...

Medico-legal reasoning in disability assessment: A focus group and validation study

Background. Decisions on disability pensions are based, among others, on medical reports. The way these medical assessments are performed is largely unclear. The aim of the study was to determine which grounds are used by social insurance physicians (SIPs) in these assessments and to determine if the identification of these grounds can help...

What makes men and women with musculoskeletal complaints decide they are too sick to work?

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine what makes men and women with musculoskeletal complaints decide to call in sick for work. Methods: Qualitative, face-to-face interviews were used with employees (16 men and 14 women) who had called in sick due to a musculoskeletal complaint and who expected to be absent from work for at...

Managing work-related psychological complaints by general practitioners, in coordination with occupational physicians: A pilot Study - Developing and testing a guideline

Increasingly, workers have psychological work-related complaints, endangering their work ability and causing considerable economic losses. Many employees consult their general practitioner (GP). He, however, often pays insufficient attention to work-relatedness or to coordination with occupational physicians (OPs). Appropriate guidelines are...

Disability assessments: Effects of response mode and experience

Purpose. To what extent response mode and experience affect the assessment of disability was investigated. Method. An experiment was conducted in which 34 medical doctors (17 inexperienced and 15 experienced) were required to assess disability of a videotaped client. Participants either gave a probability assessment after each piece of...

Economic evaluation of a multi-stage return to work program for workers on sick-leave due to low back pain

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of a return to work (RTW) program for workers on sick-leave due to low back pain (LBP), comparing a workplace intervention implemented between 2 to 8 weeks of sick-leave with usual care, and a clinical intervention after 8 weeks of sick-leave with usual care. Design: Economic...

How general practitioners can manage work-related psychological complaints. Design and pilot of a guideline: A contribution towards solving a huge problem

Predicting the duration of sickness absence for patients with common mental disorders in occupational health care

Objectives: This study attempted to determine the factors that best predict the duration of absence from work among employees with common mental disorders. Methods: A cohort of 188 employees, of whom 102 were teachers, on sick leave with common mental disorders was followed for 1 year. Only information potentially available to the occupational...

Prognostic factors for duration of sick leave due to low back pain in Dutch health care professionals

Information on prognostic factors for duration of sick leave due to low-back pain (LBP) is growing. In this prospective cohort study, prognostic factors for duration of sick leave and course of disability were identified at a very early stage of sick leave due to LBP. A total of 615 workers calling in sick from work due to LBP at an occupational...

Participatory ergonomics as a return-to-work intervention: A future challenge?

Background: Participatory ergonomics (PE) are often applied for prevention of low back pain (LBP). In this pilot-study, a PE-program is applied to the disability management of workers sick listed due to LBP. Methods: The process, implementation, satisfaction, and barriers for implementation concerning the PE-program were analyzed quantitatively...

Ineffective disability management by doctors is an obstacle for return-to-work: A cohort study on low back pain patients sicklisted for 3-4 months

The aim of this article is to determine obstacles for return-to-work in disability management of low back pain patients sicklisted for three till four months. A cohort of 467 low back pain patients was recruited. A questionnaire was sent to their occupational physicians (OPs) concerning the medical management, obstacles to return-to-work, and...