Expert@Work - Effectiveness of a Digital Expert Team on Return to Work

NCT05575908 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 2021/11991
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 170
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 4

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.

Conditions

Musculoskeletal Diseases; Mental Disorder

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Return to work

  Time to return to work within 12 months for at least 4 consecutive weeks

  12 months

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Function

  12 months

• Change in pain

  12 months

• Change in depression symptoms

  12 months

• Change in anxiety symptoms

  12 months

• Days lost from work

  12 months

Other Outcomes (1)

• Sleep quality and insomnia

  12 months

Study Arms (2)

Digital expert team

EXPERIMENTAL

The participants allocated to this arm will receive personalized advice from an expert team. The participants will have one video meeting with the team and receive a written report.

Procedure: Digital expert team

Treatment as usual

NO INTERVENTION

The participants will answer a digital questionnaire and will get normal follow-up from his/her general practitioner and labor- and welfare administration (NAV).

Interventions

Digital expert team PROCEDURE

A digital team will be appointed based on the participant's answers in the digital screening questionnaire. Members of the team can be specialists in Physical and rehabilitation medicine, psychologist, physiotherapist, social workers, and consultants in the labor- and welfare administration. The general practitioner will also be invited to the meeting.

Digital expert team

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 60 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• 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

You may not qualify if:

• 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

Sponsors & Collaborators

• St. Olavs Hospital: lead
• Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration: collaborator

Study Sites (4)

Ålesund sjukehus

Ålesund, Midt-Norge, 6017, Norway

Location

Sykehuset Levanger

Levanger, Midt-Norge, 7600, Norway

Location

Molde Sjukehus

Molde, Midt-Norge, 6412, Norway

Location

St. Olavs hospital HF

Trondheim, Midt-Norge, 7006, Norway

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Musculoskeletal Diseases; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Gunn Hege Marchand, PhD

  St. Olavs hospital HF

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: It is not possible to blind the participants or the care providers. As the investigators also will be care providers in this study, they will also have knowledge of the allocation. After the intervention, all data will be depersonalized and the name and other identifiers will be replaced by a study number. The outcome will be collected from national registries and the merging of data will be done by a statistician in the labor- and welfare administration who is not involved in the assessment of data. This allows the researchers to be blinded when they analyze the data.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: 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.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 21, 2022
• First Posted: October 12, 2022
• Study Start: October 13, 2022
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Last Updated: May 16, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

NO (4)