Promoting Evidence-Based Practice for Improved Occupational Safety and Health at Workplaces in Sweden. Report on a Practice-Based Research Network Approach.

Despite the rapid growth in research and R&D expenditures, the translation of research into practice is limited. One approach to increase the translation and utilization of research is practice based research networks. With the aim of strengthening evidence-based practice (EBP) within occupational health services in Sweden (OH-Services), a practice-based research network (PBRN-OSH) was developed.

Patterns of sickness absence a decade after pain-related multidisciplinary rehabilitation.

Multidisciplinary programmes using a vocational approach can enhance work return in chronic pain patients, but little is known about the long-term effects of rehabilitation. The current study examined the patterns of sickness absence 10 years after participation in 3 treatment groups (physiotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, and vocational multidisciplinary rehabilitation) in comparison to a control group receiving treatment-as-usual. Cost-effectiveness was also assessed.

The Nordic Maintenance Care Program: when do chiropractors recommend secondary and tertiary preventive care for low back pain?

Background: Among chiropractors the use of long-term treatment is common, often referred to as "maintenance care". Although no generally accepted definition exists, the term has a self-explanatory meaning to chiropractic clinicians. In public health terms, maintenance care can be considered as both secondary and tertiary preventive care.

A comprehensive workplace intervention and its outcome with regard to lifestyle, health and sick leave: the AHA study.

This study is a prospective multicentre cohort study entitled Work and Health in the Processing and Engineering Industries, the AHA Study (AHA is the Swedish abbreviation for the study). Four large workplaces in Sweden participated during the years from 2000 to 2003. The present report has two objectives: (1) to present a comprehensive occupational health intervention programme and (2) to evaluate this programme with a focus on lifestyle (smoking and exercise), health related quality of life (HRQoL) and sick leave.

Risk factors for new episodes of sick leave due to neck or back pain in a working population. A prospective study with an 18-month and a three-year follow-up.

Objectives: To identify risk factors for new episodes of sick leave due to neck or back pain.

Methods: This prospective study comprised an industrial population of 2187 employees who were followed up at 18 months and 3 years after a comprehensive baseline measurement. The potential risk factors comprised physical and psychosocial work factors, health-related and pain-related characteristics and lifestyle and demographic factors.

A 3-year follow-up of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme for back and neck pain.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the long-term outcome of a behavioural medicine rehabilitation programme and the outcome of its two main components, compared to a 'treatment-as-usual' control group. The study employed a 4 x 5 repeated-measures design with four groups and five assessment periods during a 3-year follow-up. The group studied consisted of blue-collar and service/care workers on sick leave, identified in a nationwide health insurance scheme in Sweden.

Sick leave among home-care personnel: a longitudinal study of risk factors.

Background: Sick leave due to neck, shoulder and back disorders (NSBD) is higher among health-care workers, especially nursing aides/assistant nurses, compared with employees in other occupations. More information is needed about predictors of sick leave among health care workers. The aim of the study was to assess whether self-reported factors related to health, work and leisure time could predict: 1) future certified sick leave due to any cause, in nursing aides/assistant nurses (Study group I) and 2) future self-reported sick leave due to NSBD in nursing aides/assistant nurses (Study group II).

Physical performance tests for people with long-term spinal pain: aspects of construct validity.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the construct validity of 6 physical performance tests that had already been shown to have acceptable repeatability.

Design: Data were collected in a randomized controlled multi-centre study.

Subjects: 126 women and 105 men sick-listed for spinal pain carried out the tests and provided personal and background data at inclusion in the study.

The impact of psychologically different patient groups on outcome after a vocational rehabilitation program for long-term spinal pain patients.

A better knowledge of differential treatment outcomes for subgroups of chronic spinal pain patients may, for instance, help clinicians in treatment planning or pain researchers in treatment outcome research. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the predictive validity of a subgroup classification based on the Swedish version of the (West Haven Yale) Multidimensional Pain Inventory, the MPI-S. Patients referred to a vocational rehabilitation program were classified into one of three groups, labeled 'adaptive copers', 'dysfunctional' patients, and 'interpersonally distressed' patients, and followed over an 18-month follow-up period.

Reliability and factor structure of the Multidimensional Pain Inventory--Swedish Language Version (MPI-S).

The psychological assessment of chronic pain is often accomplished using questionnaires such as the (West Haven-Yale) Multidimensional Pain Inventory ((WHY)MPI) which is constructed to capture the multidimensionality of chronic pain. The (WHY)MPI theoretically originates from behavioural and cognitive behavioural theories of pain. It is divided into three parts and measures psychosocial and behavioural consequences of pain.

Validation of an observation method of pain assessment in non-chronic back pain.

An observation method for assessing chronic pain in back pain and rheumatoid arthritis has been developed during the last decade in the U.S.A.