Trial reportOccupational and environmental medicine2018
Effects of internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy and physical exercise on sick leave and employment in primary care patients with depression: two subgroup analyses.
Trial report in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of work ability interventions on productivity: a systematic review.Journal of occupational health · 2025Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Helping People on Sick Leave to Return to Work: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2024Pooled it
- Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) for common mental disorders and subsequent sickness absence: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Interventions to improve return to work in depressed people.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Health-improving interventions for obtaining employment in unemployed job seekers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Outcomes of an interdisciplinary return to work intervention including occupational therapy for mood and adjustment disorders: A single-arm clinical trial.Work (Reading, Mass.) · 2023Trial
- Trial
- The effects of component-specific treatment compliance in individually tailored internet-based treatment.Clinical psychology & psychotherapy · 2019Trial
- Does continuing learning help middle-aged and elderly people find employment in China? A propensity score matching analysis.PloS one · 2025Article
- Rehabilitation coordinator - managers' experiences of a new function in health care.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Promoting labour market inclusion of the chronically ill: a scoping review of Scandinavian countries' efforts.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Practical pathway for the management of depression in the workplace: a Canadian perspective.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- eHealth interventions to facilitate work participation: a scoping review.JBI evidence synthesis · 2021Article
- Long-term effects of group exercise intervention on maximal step-up height in middle-aged female primary care patients with obesity and other cardio-metabolic risk factors.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesDepression can negatively impact work capacity, but treatment effects on sick leave and employment are unclear. This study evaluates if internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) or physical exercise (PE), with already reported positive effects on clinical outcome and short-term work ability, has better effects on employment, sick leave and long-term work ability compared with treatment as usual (TAU) for depressed primary care patients (German clinical trials: DRKS00008745).
methodsAfter randomisation and exclusion of patients not relevant for work-related analysis, patients were divided into two subgroups: initially unemployed (total n=118) evaluated on employment, and employed (total n=703) evaluated on long-term sick leave. Secondary outcomes were self-rated work ability and average number of sick days per month evaluated for both subgroups. Assessments (self-reports) were made at baseline and follow-up at 3 and 12 months.
resultsFor the initially unemployed subgroup, 52.6% were employed after 1 year (response rate 82%). Both PE (risk ratio (RR)=0.44; 95% CI 0.23 to 0.87) and ICBT (RR=0.37; 95% CI 0.16 to 0.84) showed lower rates compared with TAU after 3 months, but no difference was found after 1 year (PE: RR=0.97; 95% CI 0.69 to 1.57; ICBT: RR=1.23; 95% CI 0.72 to 2.13). For those with initial employment, long-term sick leave (response rate 75%) decreased from 7.8% to 6.5%, but neither PE (RR=1.4; 95% CI 0.52 to 3.74) nor ICBT (RR=0.99; 95% CI 0.39 to 2.46) decreased more than TAU, although a temporary positive effect for PE was found. All groups increased self-rated work ability with no differences found.
conclusionsNo long-term effects were found for the initially unemployed on employment status or for the initially employed on sick leave. New types of interventions need to be explored.
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