Refugees
Conditions
Keywords
Refugees, Supported Employment, Individual Placement and Support, Employment, Vocational Rehabilitation, Mental Health
Brief summary
Humanitarian crises related to the Syrian conflict have led to a large increase in refugees in Europe in the recent years. There is need for effective approaches to increase labor market participation among refugees, and to reduce the impact of unfavorable exclusion mechanisms among this group. The Supported Employment for Refugees (the SER-trial) is a randomized controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of Supported Employment (SE) for newly arrived refugees who are involved in the mandatory introduction program provided for all refugees in Norway. SE is an intervention that has proved effective in promoting competitive employment among patients with severe mental illness in over twenty international randomized controlled trials, and is currently being evaluated for various new patient groups in ongoing trials. The SER-trial is however the first trial to evaluate the effect of SE for the target group of refugees (who may or may not have mental illness).
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSupported Employment (SE)
Supported Employment
BEHAVIORALTreatment as usual (TAU)
Treatment as usual
Sponsors
Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration
NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Refugees in the city of Bergen, Norway * Expressed desire to work * Able to have a simple conversation in Norwegian or English
Exclusion criteria
* No expressed desire to work * Unable to have a simple conversation in Norwegian or English
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Competitive employment (register data and log books) | 12 months | Competitive employment will be assessed using register data from the State Register of Employers and Employees. Analyses will be carried out using both intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses. For per protocol analyses, log books from the service providers in the intervention group will be used. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Acculturation (survey data) | 12 months | Acculturation will be assessed using the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA) |
| Psychological distress (survey data) | 12 months | Psychological distress will be assessed using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) |
| Posttraumatic stress (survey data) | 12 months | Posttraumatic stress will be assessed using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) |
| Global well-being (survey data) | 12 months | Global well-being will be assessed using a 10-point Cantril Ladder Scale |
| Health-related quality of life (survey data) | 12 months | Health-related quality of life will be assessed using the Euro-Qol Visual Analog Scale |
Countries
Norway
Outcome results
None listed