SynthesisInternational archives of occupational and environmental health2024
Effects of work-directed interventions on return-to-work in people on sick-leave for to common mental disorders-a systematic review.
Synthesis in International archives of occupational and environmental health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Work-focused cognitive behavioural therapy for common mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Self-Help Interventions to Reduce Work Disability: A Rapid Mixed Methods Systematic Review.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2026Pooled it
- Intensified return to work clinical aftercare for sick-listed employees with diagnosed mental disorders in Germany: effects of a multicentre randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Predictors of sickness absence among employees with common mental disorders in Sweden- a longitudinal study.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- Early structured communication between general practitioner, sick-listed patient, and employer: Results and lessons learned from a pragmatic trial in the Capacity Note project.Primary health care research & development · 2024Trial
- Facilitators and Barriers for a Stepped Care Approach to Promote Return to Work of Employees with Distress: A Multi-perspective Qualitative Study.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Mental and Physical Health Predictors of Return-to-Work Outcomes among Individuals with Long COVID Symptoms.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Managing Complexity: Manager-Stakeholder Communication, Relational Dynamics, and the Dual Nature of RTW Communication.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Experiences of returning to work after sick leave due to exhaustion disorder: a qualitative content analysis.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Metacognitive therapy and work-focus for patients with depression, anxiety or comorbid depression and anxiety on sick leave: a single-centre, open-label randomised controlled trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Cooperation in Return-to-work Interventions for Common Mental Disorders: An Ideal Theory Analysis of Actors, Goals, and Ethical Obstacles.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate the body of evidence of the effects of work-directed interventions on return-to-work for people on sick leave due to common mental disorders (i.e., mild to moderate depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders and reactions to severe stress).
methodsThe systematic review was conducted in accordance with an a priori developed and registered protocol (Prospero CRD42021235586). The certainty of evidence was assessed by two independent reviewers using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations.
resultsWe reviewed 14,794 records published between 2015 and 2021. Of these, eight RCTs published in eleven articles were included in the analysis. POPULATION: Working age adults (18 to 64 years), on sick leave due to mild to moderate depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders or reactions to severe stress.
interventionWork-directed interventions. COMPARATOR: No comparator, Standard care, or other measures. OUTCOME: return to work, number of days on sick leave, income. Overall, the effects of work-focused CBT and work-focused team-based support on RTW resulted in increased or faster return-to-work compared with standard care or no intervention (low certainty of evidence). The effects of Individual Placement and Support showed no difference in RTW compared with standard care (very low certainty of evidence).
conclusionInterventions involving the workplace could increase the probability of RTW. Areas in need of improvement in the included studies, for example methodological issues, are discussed. Further, suggestions are made for improving methodological rigor when conducting large scale trials.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.