{
  "abstract": "Objectives Most patients with health conditions necessitating time off work consult in primary care. Offering vocational advice (VA) early within this setting may help them to return to work and reduce sickness absence. Previous research shows the benefits of VA interventions for musculoskeletal pain in primary care, but an intervention for a much broader primary care patient population has yet to be tested. The Work And Vocational advicE feasibility study tested patient identification and recruitment methods, explored participants’ experiences of being invited to the study and their experiences of receiving VA.Design A mixed method, single arm feasibility study comprising both quantitative and qualitative analysis of recruitment and participation in the study.Setting Primary care.Methods The study included participant follow-up by fortnightly Short Message Service text and 6-week questionnaire. Stop/go criteria focus on recruitment and intervention engagement. The semistructured interviews explored participants’ experiences of recruitment and receipt and engagement with the intervention.Results 19 participants were recruited (4.3% response rate). Identification of participants via retrospective fit-note searches was reasonably successful (13/19 (68%) identified), recruitment stop/go criteria were met with ≥50% of those eligible and expressing an interest recruited. The stop/go criterion for intervention engagement was met with 16/19 (86%) participants having at least one contact with a vocational support worker. Five participants were interviewed; they reported positive experiences of recruitment and felt the VA intervention was acceptable.Conclusion This study demonstrates that delivering VA in primary care is feasible and acceptable. To ensure a future trial is feasible, recruitment strategies and data collection methods require additional refinement.Trial registration number NCT04543097.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Medicine, Keele University Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Keele, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Gwenllian Wynne-Jones"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Connect Health Group Limited, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Gail Sowden"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Service, Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK",
        "School of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Ira Madan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Monash Centre for Occupational & Environmental Health, Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Karen Walker-Bone"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Medicine, Keele University Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Keele, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Carolyn Chew-Graham"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Medicine, Keele University Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Keele, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Benjamin Saunders"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Medicine, Keele University Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Keele, UK",
        "Clinical Trials Unit, Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Martyn Lewis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Clinical Trials Unit, Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK",
        "Keele University Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Keele, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Kieran Bromley"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Health Economics Unit, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Sue Jowett"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Service, Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK",
        "School of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Vaughan Parsons"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Psychology, College of Health and Life Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Gemma Mansell"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Clinical Trials Unit, Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Kendra Cooke"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Clinical Trials Unit, Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Sarah A Lawton"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre and Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Catherine Linaker"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Research User Group, Impact Accelerator Unit, Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK"
      ],
      "name": "John Pemberton"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton and Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Southampton, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Cyrus Cooper"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "STARS Education and Research Alliance, Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service, The University of Queensland and Metro North Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Nadine E Foster"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Can vocational advice be delivered in primary care? The Work And Vocational advicE (WAVE) mixed method single arm feasibility study",
  "uid": "38c09d67-066e-5ba3-a251-c7af02a6fbfa"
}