Clinical trial NCT05575908: Expert@Work - Effectiveness of a Digital Expert Team on Return to Work
Official title: Expert@Work - Effectiveness of a Digital Expert Team on Return to Work
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Musculoskeletal Diseases
Mental Disorder
Lead sponsor: St. Olavs Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration
First posted: 2022-10-12
Enrollment: 170
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 60
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Sick-listed employees with musculoskeletal disorders and/or common mental disorders will receive an invitation to the study from the labor-and welfare administration. Individuals who consent to participate will be allocated to either treatment as usual or personalized advice from an expert-team.
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Long-term sick leave is a challenge in Norway, and the healthcare and labor- and welfare services are often not coordinated in helping the sick-listed employees return to work. In this study, the investigators want to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention where an expert team provides advice for an individualized patient pathway based on information from a digital questionnaire and a video meeting with the sick-listed employee and the participant's general practitioner. The patient pathway should include both healthcare and labor- and welfare services measures.

Sick-listed patients with musculoskeletal- and/or common mental disorders are invited to join the study. They will receive a digital questionnaire and be randomized to either treatment as usual or personalized advice from an expert team. The team will be put together based on the response from the individual's questionnaire.

The investigators will evaluate the effect on return to work and the use of health care services 12 months after the intervention.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Sick-listed minimum 50% between 11 and 20 weeks
* Musculoskeletal disorder and/or common mental disorder
* Living in the county of Trøndelag or Møre- og Romsdal

Exclusion Criteria:

* Specific conditions such as fracture, trauma, infections, malignancy, dislocations, etc.
* Serious mental conditions or another serious disease that makes participation difficult
* Most likely to return to work within 2 weeks
* Not speaking/reading Norwegian

Primary outcomes:
measure: Return to work
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Function
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Change in pain
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Change in depression symptoms
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Change in anxiety symptoms
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Days lost from work
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
measure: Sleep quality and insomnia
timeFrame: 12 months
Locations:
city: Levanger
country: Norway
facility: Sykehuset Levanger
state: Midt-Norge
city: Molde
country: Norway
facility: Molde Sjukehus
state: Midt-Norge
city: Trondheim
country: Norway
facility: St. Olavs hospital HF
state: Midt-Norge
city: Ålesund
country: Norway
facility: Ålesund sjukehus
state: Midt-Norge
Study officials:
affiliation: St. Olavs hospital HF
name: Gunn Hege Marchand, PhD
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References: