Clinical trial NCT03752281: Long Term Social Assistance Recipient in South Eastern Sweden - a Description of Health, Function, and Activity
Official title: Long Term Social Assistance Receipt - An Observational Study of Health, Function, and Activity
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Conditions: Vocational Rehabilitation
Keywords: Health, activity, function and long-term social assistance
Lead sponsor: Linkoeping University
Sponsor class: OTHER_GOV
Collaborators: name: Linkoeping Municipality
First posted: 2018-11-23
Enrollment: 100
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Individuals who have been social assistance recipients for at least three years and who not have a plan how to get closer to the labor market. There may be signs of different kinds of ill-health such as physical, pshychological and/or social ill-health. The social worker responsible for decision about the monetary support identifies a need for establishing the working ability of the individual with the aim to agree on a plan towards self-sufficiency.

Brief summary: There is a group of social assistance recipients which have difficulties in entering the labor market and thus remains in a long-term dependency on social assistance. More knowledge about individuals receiving long-term social assistance is needed in order to improve into work interventions for this group. Therefore, this study aims to describe variables of health, function and activity in participants receiving long-term social assistance.

Detailed description: There is a group of social assistance recipients who have difficulties in entering the labor market and thus remains in a long-term dependency on social assistance. More knowledge about individuals receiving long-term social assistance is needed in order to improve into-work interventions for this group. Therefore, this study aims to describe variables of health, function and activity in participants receiving long-term social assistance. Individuals who have received social assistance during more than three years, who report physical and/or psychological difficulties, and/or have a complex social situation will be asked for participation in a six months activity-based investigation including contact with social worker, psychologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist and labor market consultant. The intervention aims to clarify the participants hinders and resources for entering the labor market. The participants are going to answer a questionnaire about health, function, and activity before and after the investigation. In addition, the participants function and ability to perform activities will be classified using the International Classification of Functioning (ICF). Data from the questionnaires and from ICF recordings will be used to describe variables of health, function and ability to be active. Participants who manage to get closer to, or enter into, the labor market will be asked to participate in a qualitative interview study about the experiences of the change. In addition, social workers will be asked to participate in focus-group interviews about experiences from the professional contact and work with the participants. The quantitative data will be analysed using traditional statistics and multivariate data analysis. Qualitative data will be analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Long-term social assistance recipient (more than three years)
* Putative ill-health (physical, psychological and/or social)
* No present plan how to reach the labor market
* Need of clarifying the working ability

Exclusion Criteria:

* Homelessness
* Severe psychiatric illness
* Abuse of alcohol or substances

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in quality of life
timeFrame: Change between the beginning and the end of the six months intervention
measure: Change in self-rated function and ability to be active
timeFrame: Change between the beginning and the end of the six months intervention
measure: Change in objective description of function and ability to be active
timeFrame: Change between the beginning and the end of the six months intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Qualitative description of experiences about an increase in activity ability
timeFrame: After the six moths intervention
measure: Qualitative description of social workers experiences from the work with long-term social assistance recipients
timeFrame: After the six moths intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Linköping
country: Sweden
facility: Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University
state: Östergötland
Study officials:
affiliation: Linkoeping Municipality, Linkoeping University
name: Linn Karlsson, PhD
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: van Vilsteren M, van Oostrom SH, de Vet HC, Franche RL, Boot CR, Anema JR. Workplace interventions to prevent work disability in workers on sick leave. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Oct 5;2015(10):CD006955. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD006955.pub3.
citation: Vogel N, Schandelmaier S, Zumbrunn T, Ebrahim S, de Boer WE, Busse JW, Kunz R. Return-to-work coordination programmes for improving return to work in workers on sick leave. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Mar 30;3(3):CD011618. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011618.pub2.
citation: Arends I, Bruinvels DJ, Rebergen DS, Nieuwenhuijsen K, Madan I, Neumeyer-Gromen A, Bultmann U, Verbeek JH. Interventions to facilitate return to work in adults with adjustment disorders. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 Dec 12;12(12):CD006389. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD006389.pub2.
citation: Madden RH, Dune T, Lukersmith S, Hartley S, Kuipers P, Gargett A, Llewellyn G. The relevance of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in monitoring and evaluating Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR). Disabil Rehabil. 2014;36(10):826-37. doi: 10.3109/09638288.2013.821182. Epub 2013 Aug 14.
citation: Prodinger B, Stucki G, Coenen M, Tennant A. The measurement of functioning using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: comparing qualifier ratings with existing health status instruments. Disabil Rehabil. 2019 Mar;41(5):541-548. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2017.1381186. Epub 2017 Oct 8.