Vocational Rehabilitation
Conditions
Keywords
Health, activity, function and long-term social assistance
Brief summary
There is a group of social assistance recipients which have difficulties in entering the labor market and thus remains in a long-term dependency on social assistance. More knowledge about individuals receiving long-term social assistance is needed in order to improve into work interventions for this group. Therefore, this study aims to describe variables of health, function and activity in participants receiving long-term social assistance.
Detailed description
There is a group of social assistance recipients who have difficulties in entering the labor market and thus remains in a long-term dependency on social assistance. More knowledge about individuals receiving long-term social assistance is needed in order to improve into-work interventions for this group. Therefore, this study aims to describe variables of health, function and activity in participants receiving long-term social assistance. Individuals who have received social assistance during more than three years, who report physical and/or psychological difficulties, and/or have a complex social situation will be asked for participation in a six months activity-based investigation including contact with social worker, psychologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist and labor market consultant. The intervention aims to clarify the participants hinders and resources for entering the labor market. The participants are going to answer a questionnaire about health, function, and activity before and after the investigation. In addition, the participants function and ability to perform activities will be classified using the International Classification of Functioning (ICF). Data from the questionnaires and from ICF recordings will be used to describe variables of health, function and ability to be active. Participants who manage to get closer to, or enter into, the labor market will be asked to participate in a qualitative interview study about the experiences of the change. In addition, social workers will be asked to participate in focus-group interviews about experiences from the professional contact and work with the participants. The quantitative data will be analysed using traditional statistics and multivariate data analysis. Qualitative data will be analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Interventions
OTHERInvestigation of health and activity
During a six months multidisciplinary investigation of health status, activity and working ability for individuals receiving long-term social assistance, the health and activity status as well as function will be described using established questionnaires and the International Classification of Functioning
Sponsors
Linkoeping Municipality
Linkoeping University
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Long-term social assistance recipient (more than three years) * Putative ill-health (physical, psychological and/or social) * No present plan how to reach the labor market * Need of clarifying the working ability
Exclusion criteria
* Homelessness * Severe psychiatric illness * Abuse of alcohol or substances
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in quality of life | Change between the beginning and the end of the six months intervention | The change in participants self-rated experience of quality of life is going to be described using EuroQol 5 Dimensions which contains a rating of the ability to perform activities, and also a score of the total quality of life experience. |
| Change in self-rated function and ability to be active | Change between the beginning and the end of the six months intervention | The change in participants self-rated function and ability to be active is going to be described using the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) which contains five-grade ratings of factors including functioning, activity and participation. |
| Change in objective description of function and ability to be active | Change between the beginning and the end of the six months intervention | The change in an objective classification of function, activity, participation and environmental factors affecting disability will be described according to the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) in the beginning and at the end of the six month intervention. The ICF contains a number of components, where each component can be scored using a five-grade scale to clarify the magnitude of disability. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Qualitative description of experiences about an increase in activity ability | After the six moths intervention | Participants experiences about a change towards higher ability to be active will be described using qualitative interviews. |
| Qualitative description of social workers experiences from the work with long-term social assistance recipients | After the six moths intervention | Social workers experiences from their work with helping clients to get closer to the labor market will be described using qualitative interviews. |
Countries
Sweden
Contacts
Primary ContactLinn Karlsson, PhD
Outcome results
None listed