Individual job support (IPS) for patients with chronic pain

Can patients with chronic and complex pain conditions return to work? That was the starting point for the project "IPS in Pain" where a new method of job support was investigated.

Chronic pain conditions are the most common cause of sick leave and disability in Norway. Despite chronic pain "affecting the most and costing the most", there are few documented interventions to help these individuals return to work. Individual job support (IPS) is a model for assisting people in finding employment. It has shown very good results for people with severe mental illnesses. Both internationally and nationally, IPS has proven to be significantly better than ordinary measures for helping people obtain and maintain in employment. It has also shown to be cost-effective for society. However, IPS has never been tested for patients with chronic pain.

The main goal of the IPS in Pain trial was to examine the effects of IPS as an integrated part of the interdisciplinary treatment for patients with chronic pain. In addition, the study had two sub-goals: 1) Evaluate the job specialist role and the need for any adjustments for this new target group (patients with chronic pain) and 2) Examine whether a job support model where a NAV-coordinator (social security case worker) was employed as part of the interdisciplinary team, contributes to better quality and more effective job support.

The study is funded by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration and the Norwegian Directorate of Health.

Oslo University Hospital was the responsible research institution for the project, but it was carried out in collaboration with the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.

Interested in finding out more? Below are some relevant links including video’s, reports, opinion articles and publications from the study.