A scoping review to ascertain the parameters for an evidence synthesis of psychological interventions to improve work and wellbeing outcomes among employees with chronic pain

Figures & data

Figure 1. PRISMA flow diagram.

Table 1. Country, participant and employment characteristics.

Characteristic	Description	Number of studies (% total)
Country
European country		71 (78)
	Norway	17
	Demark	12
	Sweden	11
	France	6
	Germany	8
	Finland	4
	Switzerland	4
	United Kingdom	3
	Amsterdam	2
	Netherlands	3
	Spain	1
The Americans		15 (17)
	America	10
	Canada	5
West Pacific		4 (4)
	Hong Kong	2
	Australia	1
	Singapore	1
Unclear		1 (1)
Sex	Both males/females included	86 (95)
	One sex reported	4 (4)
	Sex not reported	1 (1)
Pain condition	Back/spinal pain	48 (53)
	Chronic/musculoskeletal	23 (25)
	Neck pain	8 (9)
	Other (e.g. endometriosis)	5 (6)
	Multiple (e.g. mental illness)	4 (4)
	Arthritis	3 (3)
Ethnicity	Not reported	81 (89)
	Reported	10 (11)
Education level	Reported	54 (59)
	Not reported	37 (41)
Marital status	Not reported	65 (71)
	Reported	26 (29)
Type of employer	Not reported	88 (97)
	Reported	3 (3)
Employment status	Not reported	78 (86)
	Reported	13 (14)
Occupation type	Not reported	65 (71)
	Reported	26 (29)
	Blue collar professions	10 (38.5)
	Healthcare/education	10 (38.5)
	White collar professions	5 (19)
	Military	1 (4)

Table 2. Intervention, control, design, recruitment and context of interventions.

Variable	Description	Number of studies (% total)
Intervention
	Cognitive behavioural therapy	27 (30)
	Educational approaches	25 (27.5)
	Interventions containing psychological/behavioural principles	25 (27.5)
	Counselling	7(8)
	Acceptance and commitment therapy	4(4)
	Motivational interviewing	2(2)
	Mindfulness based stress reduction	1(1)
Study design
	Randomised control trials	58 (64)
	Observational studies (including prospective, retrospective, case series and cohort studies)	31 (34)
	Other	2 (2)
Study part of clinical trial
	No	60 (66)
	Yes	31 (34)
Control condition
	Control condition present	49 (54)
	Usual/standard care	30 (61)
	Type of control reported	19 (39)
	No control condition	42 (46)
Method of participant recruitment reported		80 (88)
	Clinical (rheumatology or rehabilitation)	29 (36)
	Health insurance databases	25 (31)
	Employers directly	13 (16)
	GP referral	11 (14)
	Occupational health	2 (3)
Method of participant recruitment not reported		11 (12)
Intervention setting reported		76 (84)
	Number of settings	82
	Outpatient clinic	35 (43)
	Workplace	13 (16)
	Clinical/health centre	13 (16)
	Inpatient setting	11 (13)
	Other (e.g. web based, home)	10 (12)
Intervention setting not reported		15 (16)
Intervention delivery reported		91 (100)
	Number of persons delivering intervention:	217
	Physiotherapist	45 (21)
	General Practitioner/physician/specialist medic	41 (19)
	Psychologist/psychiatrist/counsellor	33 (15)
	Occupational therapist	26 (12)
	Social worker	15 (7)
	Physical/sports therapist	15 (7)
	Nurse	12 (5)
	Other (e.g. hypnotherapist, occupational health)	30 (14)

Table 3. Work, health and wellbeing outcomes.

Outcomes	Description	Number of outcomes (% total)
Work outcomes		135
	Sickness absence	46 (34)
	Return to work	38 (28)
	Work ability	28 (21)
	Employment status change (e.g. work type, job status)	14 (10)
	Presenteeism (including productivity)	9 (7)
Health and wellbeing outcomes		228
	Pain	66 (29)
	General health outcomes (e.g. quality of life)	55 (24)
	Mood (depression and anxiety)	43 (19)
	Catastrophising and kinesiophobia	32 (14)
	Function	32 (14)

Table 4. Coding intervention descriptions.

Level	Detail of intervention description	N	%
Level 0	No intervention description provided	0	0%
Level 1	Only a couple of sentences of intervention description provided	1	11%
Level 2	At least a paragraph on intervention description provided	7	78%
Level 3	Description of at least a paragraph + links to manual/resources	1	11%
Level 4	Description of at least a paragraph + includes a logic model, theory of change	0	0%
Level 5	Description of at least a paragraph + includes a logic model, theory of change + makes explicit mention of theory/TDF and BCTT + links to manual/resources	0	0%

Data availability statement

Our data extraction table is available from the first author on request.