Trial reportBMC family practice2020
Effects of a work stress intervention on healthcare use and treatment compared to treatment as usual: a randomised controlled trial in Swedish primary healthcare.
Trial report in BMC family practice, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02480855 (Early Identification of People at Risk for Sick-leave Due to Work-related Stress - A Randomized Controlled Study of People With Mental Disorders and Physical Complaints Consulting Primary Health Care), which is not on this map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 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.
Early Identification of People at Risk for Sick-leave Due to Work-related Stress - A Randomized Controlled Study of People With Mental Disorders and Physical Complaints Consulting Primary Health Care
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Job Stress, Burnout and Healthcare Utilization: Evidence from a Systematic Literature Review and Implications for Future Research.Applied health economics and health policy · 2026Pooled it
- Routine provision of feedback from patient-reported outcome measurements to healthcare providers and patients in clinical practice.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Does a brief work-stress intervention prevent sick-leave during the following 24 months? A randomized controlled trial in Swedish primary care.Work (Reading, Mass.) · 2021Trial
- Philippine Clinical Practice Guidelines for Periodic Health Examination: Screening for Mental Health and Addiction.Acta medica Philippina · 2026Article
- The influence of occupational stress and job satisfaction on burnout among healthcare workers in the UAE: A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Does the Number of Reasons for Seeking Care and Self-Rated Health Predict Sick Leave during the Following 12 Months? A Prospective, Longitudinal Study in Swedish Primary Health Care.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Positioning work related stress - GPs' reasoning about using the WSQ combined with feedback at consultation.BMC family practice · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWork stress is an increasing burden in society. Identifying early symptoms of work stress in primary healthcare (PHC) could result in earlier and better-targeted care. The Work Stress Questionnaire (WSQ) was developed in PHC for this task. We aimed to evaluate whether the use of the WSQ, in combination with physicians' feedback, resulted in differences in healthcare visits and treatment compared to treatment as usual (TAU) in patients reporting high stress. Our hypothesis was that patients receiving the intervention would generate more visits to rehabilitation providers during follow-up compared to TAU.
methodsA two-armed randomised controlled trial was conducted at seven primary healthcare centres (PHCCs) in Region Västra Götaland, Sweden. One group received the WSQ intervention, and the controls received TAU. Employed, not sick-listed persons aged 18-64 years who sought care for mental or physical health complaints at the PHCCs participated. Register data on healthcare visits and treatments 12 months prior to inclusion and 12 months after were obtained and analysed with Fisher's exact test together with questionnaire data (WSQ and background features).
resultsA total of 271 participants were included in the study, 132 intervention and 139 controls. Visits to psychologists/psychotherapists were higher among intervention participants with high stress (20%, n = 87) during follow-up compared to corresponding controls (7%, n = 97) (p < 0.05). Collaborative care measures were more common among the stressed intervention participants (23%) post-inclusion compared to the stressed controls (11%) (p < 0.05). The amount of received cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was higher among the stressed intervention group (16%) than among controls (10%) during follow-up.
conclusionsThe intervention group that used the WSQ with physicians' feedback had an increased number of rehabilitative measures and treatment more in line with established guidelines compared to treatment as usual. Findings of the study indicate that the WSQ can assist in identifying work stress in primary healthcare and contribute to physicians' recommendations of suitable rehabilitative measures at an earlier stage compared to treatment as usual.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov. Identifier: NCT02480855 . Registered 20 May 2015.
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