Journal
JOURNAL OF REHABILITATION MEDICINE
Volume 40, Issue 8, Pages 628-636Publisher
FOUNDATION REHABILITATION INFORMATION
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-0233
Keywords
vocational rehabilitation; sick-leave; longitudinal studies; economics; intervention studies; return to work; co-operation
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Funding
- Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Mid-Sweden University
- Social Insurance Office in Stockholm, Sweden
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Objective: To evaluate the effects of systematic co-operation among municipal employees on the number of sick-leave days per month and the type of benefit granted by the Social Insurance Office. A further aim was to evaluate the economic consequences for society. Design: A 6-year follow-up study with a matched-pairs design. Methods: Days on sick-leave were calculated for each subject one year before the intervention started and yearly for the following 6-year period. Statistical mixed-model analysis was used. The economic benefit of the intervention was estimated as the increased production stemming from fewer days on sick-leave. Subjects: Sixty-four employees on long-term sick-leave were individually matched with controls from another Social Insurance Office in a county with a socioeconomic structure similar to that of the study group. Results: The study group had 5.7 fewer days on sick-leave per month and person over the 6-year period (p=0.003). The estimated average economic benefit of the intervention was (sic)36,600 per person over the 6-year period. In conclusion, those who received systematic co-operation in vocational rehabilitation had fewer days on sick-leave than their treatment-as-usual peers. This effect persisted over 6 years, generating substantial net economic gains for society.
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