Changes in cognitive functioning in sick-listed participants in occupational rehabilitation: A feasibility study

Abstract

Background: Individuals on long-term sick leave attending occupational rehabilitation often complain about impairments in cognitive functions such as memory and attention. Knowledge of cognitive functioning in these individuals is limited. Such knowledge is clinically relevant for improving occupational rehabilitation programmes.

Objective: The aims of this feasibility study were to assess the methodological design and to investigate changes in memory and attention on participants during occupational rehabilitation.

Methods: Individuals attending occupational rehabilitation (n = 28) and individuals working full time (n = 25) matched for age, gender, and education participated. The two groups were administered cognitive tests targeting memory and attention and self-reported questionnaires at pre-test and post-test. Outcome measures were speed and accuracy of responses on the cognitive tests and self-reported work ability, subjective health complaints, and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Results: In total, 35% of all invited participants agreed to take part and 93% of these also completed the second test. The mean gain scores in the intervention group were significantly higher than in the control group in response latency on simple and choice reaction time and errors in spatial working memory.

Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the motivation of participants to complete testing was high. Improvements in memory and attention were evident in rehabilitation participants indicating that rehabilitation may have an effect on cognitive functions.

Keywords:

• Attention
• cognitive function
• executive function
• memory
• return to work
• sick leave
• occupational rehabilitation

Acknowledgements

Gratitude goes to all who participated in the study. The authors are grateful to members of staff at the Occupational Rehabilitation Center, Rauland, Norway and the National Center for Occupational Rehabilitation, Rauland, Norway for the fruitful discussions concerning the relevance of the findings. Thanks are offered to David Postelt who assisted in data processing and recruitment. Thanks also to Hege Bruun-Hanssen, Finn Berset and Dag Øystein Andersen at CatoSenteret Rehabilitation Clinic, Son, Norway, Uni Research Health, Bergen, Norway and FOM Hochschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany for their support. An abstract of this article was presented at the 3rd WDPI Conference: Implementing Work Disability Prevention Knowledge, Toronto, Canada, 2014, and the participants are thanked for stimulating discussions.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.