Supported Employment for Refugees

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Refugees
• Interventions: Behavioral: Supported Employment (SE); Behavioral: Treatment as usual (TAU)

• Registration Number: NCT03629366
• Lead Sponsor: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS

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).

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2017-05-01
• Study First Submitted: 2018-07-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2018-08-10
• Study First Posted: 2018-08-14
• Primary Completion: 2020-04-30
• Study Completion: 2020-05-30
• Status Verified: 2020-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2020-09-15
• Last Update Posted: 2020-09-16

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 66

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

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Supported Employment (SE)	Supported Employment (SE)	Follow-up with Supported Employment (SE), provided by a job specialist trained in the eight evidence-based principles of Individual Placement and Support (IPS). The SE intervention is provided in addition to the mandatory introduction program for refugees in Norway (treatment as usual).
Treatment as usual (TAU)	Treatment as usual (TAU)	Follow-up with treatment as usual, which involves participation in the mandatory introduction program provided for all refugees in Norway. The program includes training in Norwegian language and culture, as well as the various traditional employment schemes offered by the Norwegian labor and welfare Administration.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
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 Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
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

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

NORCE Norwegian Research Centre; 🇳🇴 Bergen, Norway