Developing and Implementing ICF-Based Tools for Occupational Rehabilitation Supporting the Communication and Return to Work Process Between Sickness Absentees, Clinical Team and Jobcentre Contacts.
Thomas Johansen, Astrid Marie Kvaal, Ása Dóra Konráðsdóttir
PMID 36189040WHAT IT FOUND
Occupational therapists and physiotherapists found that ICF assessments alone were too slow and lacked the patient's voice.
Combining them with a positive-framed questionnaire and a structured report helped jobcentre contacts make better return-to-work decisions.
Key findings
01The clinical team found the ICF subset assessment time-consuming, taking at least 40 minutes per patient, which was a barrier to implementation.
02Clinicians felt the ICF subset lacked the patient perspective and was unsuitable for communication with jobcentres, prompting the development of supplementary tools.
03Jobcentre contacts reported that the combined ICF report and questionnaire strengthened their decision-making basis for return-to-work interventions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was a small pilot with only 41 participants, and the results are exploratory. No reliability or validity analyses (such as internal consistency or inter-rater reliability) were conducted on the modified questionnaire. The user representative was involved only in tool development, not systematically throughout the study. Training in ICF application was not comprehensive for all team members, which may have affected assessment quality. The study did not measure actual return-to-work outcomes, only stakeholder perceptions of the tools.
Declared interests
Funded by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration. The authors declared no commercial or financial conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these tools improve return-to-work rates. The study measured stakeholder satisfaction and communication quality, not patient outcomes like employment status. The questionnaire was not psychometrically validated.