Virtual Reality Gaming in Occupational Rehabilitation - User Experiences and Perceptions.

Background: In Norway, individuals who struggle to participate in the workforce can take part in rehabilitation programmes to improve their work ability. The goal is to return to work by working with cognitive, physical, and environmental processes. Virtual Reality (VR) technology has become a popular and common tool in many healthcare and rehabilitation services but has not yet been systematically applied in occupational rehabilitation.

Helpful elements in a brief work-oriented intervention targeting musculoskeletal and mental health literacy.

Musculoskeletal and mental health complaints are common in the general population and frequent reasons for healthcare utilization and work absence. Illness perceptions, coping expectancies, rumination and self-stigma are important factors in the management of these health complaints and factors closely linked to health literacy (HL). The aims of the study were to identify helpful elements in a brief intervention (BI) targeting HL regarding common musculoskeletal and mental health complaints and to identify patient perceptions of how the intervention was helpful and whether it affected their subsequent coping.

Changes in memory and attention during and after occupational rehabilitation: A longitudinal study.

Background: There is need for more knowledge about the relationship between work and cognitive functioning in sick-listed individuals.

Objective: This study investigated whether the degree of work participation is relevant for recovery of cognitive functioning in sick-listed individuals.

Methods: 177 occupational rehabilitation participants and 70 controls participated in a non-randomised, longitudinal study.

Workplace Inclusion of People With Health Issues, Immigrants, and Unemployed Youths-A Qualitative Study of Norwegian Leaders' Experiences.

Aim: To explore leaders' perceptions and experiences of facilitators and barriers for successful workplace inclusion of immigrants, unemployed youths, and people who are outside the labor market due to health issues.

Methods: Semi-structured individual interviews with 16 leaders who actively engaged in inclusion work, representing different occupations, were conducted. Systematic Text Condensation was used to structure the analysis.

What is the effect of independent medical evaluation on days on sickness benefits for long-term sick listed employees in Norway? A pragmatic randomised controlled trial, the NIME-trial.

Background: Independent medical evaluations are used to evaluate degree and reason for work disability, uncertainty around the functional status, and/or the employee's rehabilitation potential in several jurisdictions, but not in Norway. The main aim of this trial was to test the return to work effect of independent medical evaluation (IME) (summoning and consultation) compared to treatment as usual (TAU) in Norway, for workers who have been on continuous sick leave for 6 months.

Methods: This was a pragmatic randomised controlled trial including all employees aged 18-65 years, sick-listed by their general practitioner and on full or partial sick leave for the past 26 weeks in Hordaland County, Norway in 2015/16.

eHealth interventions to facilitate work participation: a scoping review.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review was to identify studies combining the concepts of eHealth and work participation for sick-listed employees across diagnostic groups in health care and workplace contexts.

Introduction: There is an increased demand for better health care services and technologies, and eHealth is proposed as a useful tool to improve efficiency and reduce costs. eHealth functions at the intersection of medical informatics, public health, and business, and may be a promising solution for managing the process of return to work among employees on sick leave.

Sustained Attention and Working Memory Predict the Number of Days on Health-Related Benefits in the Year Following Occupational Rehabilitation.

Purpose The objective of this study was to investigate the association between cognitive and emotional functioning and the number of days on health-related benefits such as sick leave, work assessment allowance and disability pension. We investigated whether cognitive and emotional functioning at the start of rehabilitation and the change from the start to the end of rehabilitation predicted the number of days on health-related benefits in the year after occupational rehabilitation. Methods A sample of 317 individuals (age 19-67 years), mainly diagnosed with a musculoskeletal or mental and behavioural ICD-10 disorder, participated.

Independent medical evaluation of general practitioners' follow-up of sick-listed patients: a cross-sectional study in Norway.

Objectives: The study was designed to examine the sufficiency of general practitioners' (GPs) follow-up of patients on sick leave, assessed by independent medical evaluators.

Design: Cross-sectional study SETTING: Primary health care in the Western part of Norway. The study reuses data from a randomised controlled trial-the Norwegian independent medical evaluation trial (NIME trial).

Occupational Rehabilitation Is Associated With Improvements in Cognitive Functioning.

Introduction: Occupational rehabilitation may be offered to workers on long-term sick leave who often report problems with cognitive functioning, anxiety, depression, pain, and reduced work ability. The empirical knowledge is sparce on how occupational rehabilitation may influence cognitive and emotional functioning and patients have not previously been subjected to comprehensive objective testing. The main aim of this study was to assess possible changes in cognitive and emotional functioning such as memory, attention, executive function, and emotion recognition among patients in occupational rehabilitation.

eHealth interventions to facilitate work participation: a scoping review protocol.

The objective of this scoping review is to identify and synthesize existing literature on the different types of eHealth interventions used in workplaces and healthcare settings to facilitate work participation. The following questions will be examined: For which user groups, in which settings and by which stakeholders are eHealth interventions provided? Are eHealth interventions that are aimed at work participation theory-driven or based on empirical evidence?

A quality indicator set for use in rehabilitation team care of people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases; development and pilot testing.

Background: Systems for monitoring effectiveness and quality of rehabilitation services across health care levels are needed. The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot test a quality indicator set for rehabilitation of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

Methods: The set was developed according to the Rand/UCLA Appropriateness Method, which integrates evidence review, in-person multidisciplinary expert panel meetings and repeated anonymous ratings for consensus building.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Work Role Functioning Questionnaire 2.0 to Norwegian and Danish.

Background: A healthy and productive working life has attracted attention owing to future employment and demographic challenges.

Objective: The aim was to translate and adapt the Work Role Functioning Questionnaire (WRFQ) 2.0 to Norwegian and Danish.

Independent medical evaluation for sick-listed workers in Norway: A focus group study of the experience of IME doctors.

Background: Norwegian politicians have proposed the use of an independent medical evaluation (IME) as a possible solution for reducing long-term sick leave. The use of an IME implies that a new doctor interferes in the relationship between sick-listed workers and their general practitioner (GP). The aim of the current study was to explore experiences of IME doctors from an ongoing randomized controlled trial (the NIME trial evaluating the effect of IME in Norway).

Protocol for the effect evaluation of independent medical evaluation after six months sick leave: a randomized controlled trial of independent medical evaluation versus treatment as usual in Norway.

Background: It has been discussed whether the relationship between a patient on sick leave and his/her general practitioner (GP) is too close, as this may hinder the GP's objective evaluation of need for sick leave. Independent medical evaluation involves an independent physician consulting the patient. This could lead to new perspectives on sick leave and how to follow-up the patient.

Subjective health complaints, functional ability, fear avoidance beliefs, and days on sickness benefits after work rehabilitation - a mediation model.

Background: Long-term sick leave and withdrawal from working life is a concern in western countries. In Norway, comprehensive inpatient work rehabilitation may be offered to sick listed individuals at risk of long-term absence from work. Knowledge about prognostic factors for work outcomes after long-term sick leave and work rehabilitation is still limited.

Changes in cognitive functioning in sick-listed participants in occupational rehabilitation: A feasibility study.

Background: Individuals on long-term sick leave attending occupational rehabilitation often complain about impairments in cognitive functions such as memory and attention. Knowledge of cognitive functioning in these individuals is limited. Such knowledge is clinically relevant for improving occupational rehabilitation programmes.

Causal inference in multi-state models-sickness absence and work for 1145 participants after work rehabilitation.

Background: Multi-state models, as an extension of traditional models in survival analysis, have proved to be a flexible framework for analysing the transitions between various states of sickness absence and work over time. In this paper we study a cohort of work rehabilitation participants and analyse their subsequent sickness absence using Norwegian registry data on sickness benefits. Our aim is to study how detailed individual covariate information from questionnaires explain differences in sickness absence and work, and to use methods from causal inference to assess the effect of interventions to reduce sickness absence.

Functioning, coping and work status three years after participating in an interdisciplinary, occupational rehabilitation program.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore how functional ability, coping and health were related to work and benefit status three years after participating in a four-week inpatient interdisciplinary occupational rehabilitation program.

Methods: The cohort consisted of 338 individuals (75% females, mean age 51 years (SD=8.6)) who three years earlier had participated in a comprehensive inpatient interdisciplinary occupational rehabilitation program, due to long-term sick leave.

A prospective study of the association between the readiness for return to work scale and future work participation in Norway.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the associations between the Norwegian version of the Readiness for return to work (RTW) scale and future work participation among persons in inpatient occupational rehabilitation.

Methods: A prospective cohort with one year follow up. The participants (n = 179) were persons with reduced work ability who participated in a one-week inpatient rehabilitation program.

Prognostic factors for return to work, sickness benefits, and transitions between these states: a 4-year follow-up after work-related rehabilitation.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine if age, gender, medical diagnosis, occupation, and previous sick leave predicted different probabilities for being at work and for registered sickness benefits, and differences in the transitions between any of these states, for individuals that had participated in an interdisciplinary work-related rehabilitation program.

Methods: 584 individuals on long-term sickness benefits (mean 9.3 months, SD = 3.

Multiple transitions in sick leave, disability benefits, and return to work. - A 4-year follow-up of patients participating in a work-related rehabilitation program.

Background: Return to work (RTW) after long-term sick leave can be a long-lasting process where the individual may shift between work and receiving different social security benefits, as well as between part-time and full-time work. This is a challenge in the assessment of RTW outcomes after rehabilitation interventions. The aim of this study was to analyse the probability for RTW, and the probabilities of transitions between different benefits during a 4-year follow-up, after participating in a work-related rehabilitation program.

Prognostic factors associated with return to work following multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation.

Objectives: The number of people in Western countries on long-term sick-leave and disability pension due to musculoskeletal complaints and psychological health problems is increasing. The main objective of this study was to examine whether fear-avoidance beliefs, illness perceptions, subjective health complaints, and coping are prognostic factors for return to work after multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation, and to assess the relative importance and inter-relationship of these factors.

Methods: A prospective cohort study with a 1-year follow-up period was performed.