Psychoeducation to Sick-listed Individuals With Mental Health Problems

In Denmark, it is estimated that 35-45% of all sick leave registered citizens are on sick leave due to psychiatric sufferings. Mental health conditions are of great consequence not only to the sick-listed individual but also to his/her family and to society in general and in socioeconomic terms.

The aim of this project is to systematically compare psychoeducation with the various standard offers to sick listed individuals with mental health conditions provided by job centers in four municipalities.

Psychoeducation is employed within the psychiatric healthcare system and is defined as a group based treatment by means of educating participants about psychiatric conditions. In the present project, the employed psychoeducation focuses on psyche and work life, and its purpose is to impart knowledge about psychiatric conditions in order to provide the sick listed individuals with qualifications to understand, and, thereby, improve their own situation. Among others, there will be information about the symptoms of various psychiatric conditions, diagnoses, and treatment options. Furthermore, the participants will learn about specific, useful, cognitive tools in regards to the barriers and difficulties they might experience when reentering the work force and leave sickness absence behind.

The project is designed as a randomized clinical trial in which the participants are offered either 1) psychoeducation as well as the standard offer to sick listed individuals provided by the municipality in which the individual lives or 2) the participants are offered merely the standard offer to sick listed individuals provided by the municipality.

The target group consists of recently sick listed individuals with mental health issues - whether diagnosed or not. The individuals must be inhabitants of the municipalities of Struer, Lemvig, Skive, and Holstebro.

The outcome measure is the determined as the duration of the sickness absence, the severity of the psychiatric condition, self-reported health, and 'locus of control´. These outcome measurements are assessed at baseline and after 3 and 6 months.