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Predictors of Return to Work for People with Anxiety or Depression Participating in a Randomized Trial Investigating the Effect of a Supported Employment Intervention

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Abstract

Purpose Common mental disorders have a severe impact on society and individuals; rates of unemployment and disability pensions are high. Knowing which factors facilitate or hinder people’s return to work is important when designing effective vocational rehabilitation interventions. Methods We conducted secondary analyses on data from 289 participants with depression or anxiety included in the Individual Placement and Support modified for people with mood and anxiety disorders (IPS-MA) trial. Associations of baseline characteristics and employment or education after 24 months were tested in univariate logistic regression analyses, variables with a p-value below 0.1 were included in multivariate analyses. Results In the univariate analyses, self-reported level of functioning (p = 0.032), higher age (p = 0.070), and higher level of readiness to change (p = 0.001) were associated with the outcome and included in the multivariate analysis. Only age (p = 0.030) and readiness to change (p = 0.003) remained significantly associated with return to work or education after 24 months in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion Higher age and lower readiness to change were associated with a lower chance of having returned to work or education. Factors modifying the effect of higher age should be identified, just as vocational rehabilitation should focus on improving factors related to people’s readiness to change.

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Data Availability

Data are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health – CORE, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark

    Lone Hellström, Thomas Nordahl Christensen, Anders Bo Bojesen & Lene Falgaard Eplov

  2. Biostatistics (Insulin & Devices), Novo Nordisk A/S, Alfred Nobels Vej 27, 9220, Aalborg Øst, Denmark

    Anders Bo Bojesen

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  1. Lone Hellström
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  2. Thomas Nordahl Christensen
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Contributions

All authors participated in the planning and design of the study, interpretation of the results, and have read and critically revised the manuscript. LH conducted the data analysis with valuable support from ABB. LH wrote the first draft of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lone Hellström.

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All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

The IPS-MA trial was approved by The Regional Ethics Committees of the Capital Region (journal no: H-2-2011-FSP20), reported to the Danish Data Protection Agency (Journal no: 2007-58-0015, local journal no: RHP-2011-20), and registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov (identifier: NCT01721824).

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In the original trial all participants provided written and oral consent.

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Consent to participate was obtained from all participants, and the study was reported to the Danish Data Protection Agency (Journal no: 2007-58-0015, local journal no: RHP-2011-20).

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Hellström, L., Christensen, T.N., Bojesen, A.B. et al. Predictors of Return to Work for People with Anxiety or Depression Participating in a Randomized Trial Investigating the Effect of a Supported Employment Intervention. J Occup Rehabil 33, 61–70 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-022-10046-7

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