BOHRF News: Summer 2009 Newsletter
We currently have ten research projects in progress; five of which were funded in 2008. This Newsletter outlines what this research seeks to achieve, covering:
- Rehabilitation and fit for work
- Performance and presenteeism with musculoskeletal disorders
- Ageing workforce
- Mental health
- Dermatitis (launch of evidence review 25 March 2010)
- Asthma
BOHRF is an award-winning niche charity specialising in the provision of evidence based solutions to practical questions asked by employers and their advisers in both private and public sectors.
Our work is:
- Evidence based, independent and objective
- Of international relevance
- Always of direct practical application at work
- Based on robust methodology so it "does what it says on the tin"
- Independently peer reviewed and scrutinised by the research committee
BOHRF strategy is focussed on a proactive research pipeline. Our effort is on developing and funding evidence based answers to questions to which our corporate sponsors, project funders, and you would like answers.
In this Newsletter:
Another Corporate Sponsor for BOHRF
We are delighted to welcome Royal Dutch Shell as a corporate sponsor. They join BP, Carillion, E.ON, Esso, IOSH, Johnson Matthey, MoD, Rolls Royce, Royal Mail Group, Scottish Power.
We do need more corporate sponsors and we are actively seeking to grow our sponsor base. The existence of a solid corporate sponsor base is critical to the BOHRF business model, and to our ability to continue to contribute robust evidence based research of direct practical application at work.
We are incredibly grateful to our current sponsors in supporting this work that really does “make a difference”. Research that, without sponsor support, would not happen.
Sponsors gain early access to the emerging findings of research being funded by BOHRF in four ways. Copies of interim deliverables; twice yearly update on significance of emerging findings for policy and practice; attendance at Annual Research Day; early copy of final report and deliverables.
Au Revoir to Tony and Hello to Tony
Professor Tony Pickering retired as Chairman of the Research Committee and as BOHRF Scientific Adviser at the end of last year. Our Chairman, Sir Bill Callaghan, presented Tony with a gift in appreciation of his many years of hard work and sage advice to BOHRF, and wished him well for the future. Sir Bill welcomed another Tony, Professor Sir Anthony (Tony) Newman Taylor CBE as our new Scientific Adviser and Chair of the Research Committee.
Anthony Newman Taylor is Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Medicine, Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Imperial College and is a Consultant Physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He was chairman of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council between 1996 and 2008. He is currently Chairman of the Colt Foundation and of the charity CORDA.
Launch of BOHRF Systematic Evidence Review
Thursday 25 March 2010 sees the launch of BOHRF’s latest systematic evidence review. This one is on occupational contact dermatitis and urticaria. At the same conference there will be the launch of the updated prizewinning evidence review on occupational asthma. Readers who would like to attend this conference at the Royal College of Physicians, London, are asked to e-mail Anna McNeil at annamcneil2@aol.com
Rehabilitation and Line Manager Competencies
To the best of our understanding this is the first longitudinal research designed to identify behaviours, and to develop and validate line manager (and HR/occupational health) competencies required for supporting effective return to work and staying back in work, covering employees being rehabilitated back in work after absences due to mental health problems, back pain, heart disease, cancer.
Outputs of the longitudinal research will be:
- Validated “return to work” behavioural and competency model
- Identification of behaviours that contribute to failed return to work/rehabilitation
- Guidance for health and HR professionals, line managers and employees on achievement of successful return to work and staying back in work
- Guidance on mainstreaming the model into personal development and performance
This research is receiving funding in kind from HSE and CIPD, in addition to project funding from a number of private sector employers, NHS Employers, Scottish Executive and CIPD.
This research is expected to complete at Easter 2010.
Fit for Work
The piloting of fit for work notes is a key element of the Government’s response to Dame Carol Black’s report “Working for a Healthier Tomorrow”. BOHRF is funding the evaluation of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a new multi-disciplinary rehabilitation and wellness programme (Fit for Life) case control study, which is targeted at employees with long-term sickness absence.
The objectives of the research are:
- To compare changes from before to after the introduction of the intervention in total and temporary staffing (full-time equivalent person-years) and in the number and duration of absences lasting longer than eight weeks, in the intervention group as compared with the control group.
- To document the operation of the Fit for Life programme, including the extent to which eligible staff members are referred by managers, the efficiency with which cases are managed, the referrals that are made to specialised services, and the use that is made of job modifications.
- To use the data obtained to inform a cost-benefit analysis.
The main disciplines that are represented within the core multi-disciplinary team are occupational health, physical therapy (physiotherapists and chiropractors), psychology, psychiatry, occupational therapy, dietetics, and lifestyle/exercise practitioners (personal trainers).
A case manager will work closely with the client to help them make a self-assessment of their problems (biological, psychological and social), and to formulate solutions to improve their own health and well-being. The intention is to motivate, enable and engage clients in actively improving their own health and fitness for work, and to avoid imposing interventions on passive or reluctant individuals.
Systematic Evidence Review: Evaluating the impact of back, neck and upper limb pain on work performance and absence
This is interrogating a database established by researchers at Keele University funded by sponsor cash. This comprises the worldwide literature of 20,000 unique references and almost 2,000 peer reviewed research papers on health, performance, and interventions to achieve optimal performance at work. This review is designed to:
- Summarise the evidence on the overall impact of back, neck and upper limb pain on work performance and absence.
- Assess the separate impacts of back, neck and upper limb pain on work performance and absence.
- Describe the range of outcome measures, used to assess work performance for people with these conditions.
- Evaluate the measures found in terms of their reliability and validity.
Ageing, Work and Health: Working Womens’ Experience of the Menopause
This research aims to identify the extent and the nature of the problems that the menopause presents for women at work; and how this can be improved through the design and management of work. It is scheduled for completion in the first part of 2009.
Deliverables:
- evidence based recommendations for management and occupational health advisers to inform policy, best practice and a work environment that will be conducive to the health and productivity of women working through the menopause
- identification of the factors that would help women working through the menopause stay in work, thus reducing staff turnover
- advice leaflets for older women working through the menopause and for their employers
- scientific report on work related concerns of older women workers, and their effects on health, motivation and performance
Intervening to enhance the active mental health of employees facing high job demands
The aim is to develop, implement, and rigorously test an intervention designed to increase the active mental health of a workforce facing high job demands. The added value of coaching will also be assessed. It also examines what individual and group factors influence the effectiveness of active mental health.
This research is designed to help people come to work feeling enthusiastic and energised; and to be more effective and perform better than ever before.
It is designed to do this through creating greater self confidence, promoting greater resilience in the face of setbacks, creating more innovation and improving initiative.
It is designed to reduce the effects of job insecurity, burnout, and higher level of stress in a recession.
The main outcome will be user-friendly recommendations about how to achieve and sustain positive individual change and enhanced resilience.
Randomised Control Trial Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – Its Effectiveness in Organisations and Comparison with other CBT Methods
The feasibility phase of a study has just completed. This is to find out whether internet based CBT (MoodGYM which is freely available on the internet) is effective in reducing anxiety and depression; and in improving performance at work and attendance at work. At the same time it will evaluate the user satisfaction and cost effectiveness of this approach compared with alternatives. If the objectives of the feasibility study are achieved, then it is anticipated that BOHRF will fund the full pragmatic randomized control trial.
Nearly three in ten of all employees will have a mental health problem of some sort in any given year. People with anxiety and depression take 3½ times as many days off work as people with no mental disorder.
The approach being taken by this research is innovative in that:
- it avoids the fear of stigma that some people have
- it avoids the risk of being “labeled” as “mentally ill” due to health centre visit when such labeling is not necessary
- it seeks to demonstrate effectiveness within the workplace (rather than clinical setting)
- it will compare effectiveness with treatment as usual
- it is the first randomized control trial on cCBT in an organisational setting
Systematic Evidence Review: Occupational Contact Dermatitis
This is believed to be the world’s first systematic review on this topic that covers all occupational sectors. It is focused mainly on prevention. The review is being led by Dr Paul Nicholson. HSE is funding the position of Scientific Secretary. The launch of the findings will take place on Thursday 25 March 2010 at the Royal College of Physicians.
This study responds to the request from The House of Lords Select Committee Report on Allergy, for an evidence review on occupational dermatitis, of the quality of the BOHRF award winning evidence review on occupational asthma.
Evidence Base for Removing Discrimination Against Asthmatics at Work
The BOHRF Board agreed to fund the dissemination phase of ongoing work to produce evidence based guidance to be used by occupational health professionals and employers in the pre-employment assessment of people with asthma. This condition affects 5.8 million working people in the UK alone. The project is being led by Dr Paul Cullinan of the National Heart and Lung Institute. It is due to complete this summer, and the guidelines will then go out for consultation.
Systematic Evidence Review Update: Occupational Asthma
This very influential, award winning, systematic evidence review is being updated to take account of research published since the beginning of 2004. The influence of the original study includes the fact that the guidelines have been adopted by the Finnish Government. The findings will be launched at the same event as the systematic evidence review on occupational dermatitis.
The Wellbeing of Mobile Personnel
The aims of this research are to provide
- Policy recommendations based on evidence for remote/isolated workers
- Issues that reduce their wellbeing; enabling better risk management
- Identification of benefits of remote working; enabling better performance
This research is well under way. The first deliverable – the critical review of the evidence – delivered some time ago and has been sent to the project funders. The second deliverable, development and field testing of the questionnaire, has recently been received. The full scale field research is now under way.
Changes in Research Committee
At the beginning of the year, BOHRF took responsibility for the Research Committee again. Since our move to the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, the Research Committee had been operated by the Faculty. Last year the Faculty advised that since it had established the Academic Forum it felt the time might be right for the Research Committee to come back under BOHRF’s wing. The opportunity was taken to review the Committee’s membership, to ensure that it has representation from all the research disciplines that form BOHRF grant awards, whilst retaining a significant number of occupational physicians. BOHRF is extremely grateful for the time and expertise of the Committee whilst it operated under the Faculty’s aegis.
BOHRF Has Moved
BOHRF has moved into the back office of the Society of Occupational Medicine. This followed having to leave our space in the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, due to the Faculty planning to increase its headcount to be able to take on extra workload. BOHRF is very grateful to the Faculty for the eight years that it enjoyed in their offices. We are extremely grateful to the Society and its Chief Executive, Hilary Todd, for coming to our assistance at what could have been a difficult time.
Last Update: 18-Aug-2009