Clinical trial NCT02375074: Supported Employment and Preventing Early Disability
Official title: Supported Employment and Preventing Early Disability (SEED)
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Unemployment
Keywords: Supported Employment
Vocational Rehabilitation
Youth
Sick leave
Disability
Coping
Work
Occupational
Labor market participation
Randomized Controlled Trial
Lead sponsor: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: The Research Council of Norway
First posted: 2015-03-02
Enrollment: 96
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 29
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: The share of young workers falling into early work disability is an increasingly important problem in Norway. Early withdrawal or exclusion from the labor market leads to large individual and societal costs. The SEED-trial is a randomized controlled trial aiming to provide evidence-based knowledge about different approaches to prevent permanent disability and increase labor market participation in this important and vulnerable group. The trial includes young adults aged 18-30 years who are at risk of early work disability, and the participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 2 interventions, both aimed at facilitating participation in working life:

1. Traditional Vocational Rehabilitation (TVR), offering training and preparation for the labor market in a sheltered environment
2. Supported Employment (SE), focusing on competitive employment in real-life settings without long-lasting preceding training

Both interventions are currently provided by The Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV). Supported Employment was introduced recently and is currently being implemented, while traditional vocational rehabilitation with sheltered employment has been around for years. However, no Norwegian controlled studies have been conducted on these practices in this population. The current study will therefore provide new knowledge of the effect of traditional as well as new and promising interventions to increase labor market participation and prevent early disability.

Detailed description: A detailed study protocol was published in BMC Public Health in 2016, and is openly available in fulltext at: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-016-3280-x

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion criteria:

* Not in employment or education
* Receiving temporary benefits
* Intended for the VR service "traineeships in sheltered businesses"

Exclusion criteria:

* Not expressing interest in getting help to obtain competitive work
* Insufficient language skills to answer questionnaires in Norwegian

Primary outcomes:
measure: Any competitive employment (yes/no)
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Physical and mental health
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Coping
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Illness perceptions
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Alcohol and drug abuse
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Cost effectiveness
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bergen
country: Norway
facility: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre
Study officials:
affiliation: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre
name: Silje Endresen Reme, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Sveinsdottir V, Lie SA, Bond GR, Eriksen HR, Tveito TH, Grasdal AL, Reme SE. Individual placement and support for young adults at risk of early work disability (the SEED trial). A randomized controlled trial. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2020 Jan 1;46(1):50-59. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3837. Epub 2019 Jun 6.
citation: Sveinsdottir V, Eriksen HR, Baste V, Hetland J, Reme SE. Young adults at risk of early work disability: who are they? BMC Public Health. 2018 Oct 16;18(1):1176. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-6095-0.
citation: Sveinsdottir V, Tveito TH, Bond GR, Grasdal AL, Lie SA, Reme SE. Protocol for the SEED-trial: Supported Employment and preventing Early Disability. BMC Public Health. 2016 Jul 15;16:579. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3280-x.