Cost-effectiveness of a workplace intervention for sick-listed employees with common mental disorders: design of a randomized controlled trial

Background. Considering the high costs of sick leave and the consequences of sick leave for employees, an early return-to-work of employees with mental disorders is very important. Therefore, a workplace intervention is developed based on a successful return-to-work intervention for employees with low back pain. The objective of this paper is to present the design of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the cost-effectiveness of the workplace intervention compared with usual care for sick-listed employees with common mental disorders. Methods. The study is designed as a randomized controlled trial with a follow-up of one year. Employees eligible for this study are on sick leave for 2 to 8 weeks with common mental disorders. The workplace intervention will be compared with usual care. The workplace intervention is a stepwise approach that aims to reach consensus about a return-to-work plan by active participation and strong commitment of both the sick-listed employee and the supervisor. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The primary outcome of this study is lasting return-to-work, which will be acquired from continuous registration systems of the companies after the follow-up. Secondary outcomes are total number of days of sick leave during the follow-up, severity of common mental disorders, coping style, job content, and attitude, social influence, and self-efficacy determinants. Cost-effectiveness will be evaluated from the societal perspective. A process evaluation will also be conducted. Discussion. Return-to-work is difficult to discuss in the workplace for sick-listed employees with mental disorders and their supervisors. Therefore, this intervention offers a unique opportunity for the sick-listed employee and the supervisor to discuss barriers for return-to-work. Results of this study will possibly contribute to improvement of disability management for sick-listed employees with common mental disorders. Results will become available in 2009. Trial registration. ISRCTN92307123. © 2008 van Oostrom et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Exploring the application of a text-to-personality technique in job interviews

This research’s purpose was to develop a valid and transparent text-to-personality technique to fit the requirements for personnel selection assessments. In this research we developed an advanced word-counting technique, the HEXACO text-to-personality (HTTP) technique, based on prior lexical personality research to assess personality from job interviews. To evaluate the technique’s construct and criterion-related validity we conducted three studies and analysed the transcripts of asynchronous (n = 102 and 72) and face-to-face (n = 155) interviews. These studies provided four key insights. First, the HTTP technique showed small to medium correlations with self-reported and interviewer-rated personality. Second, the technique showed mixed, but generally favourable, evidence for criterion-related validity. Third, the technique produced a more construct valid personality score when the interview questions activated the predicted personality trait. Fourth, the technique’s additional features (i.e., having weighted keywords and adjusting the keywords’ weight for adjacent quantifiers) did not improve its validity; unit-weighing was approximately equally effective. Altogether, the results show that a word-count text-analysis technique can discover traces of personality in interview transcripts. Still, significant improvements are needed before these types of automatically computed text-to-personality ratings can be used to replace or supplement interviewer ratings

Literatuurstudie naar de bepaling van mono- en disacchariden en polyalcoholen met behulp van instrumentale analysemethoden

Doel van dit onderzoek was het uitvoeren van een literatuurstudie naar de bepalingsmogelijkheden van mono- en disacchariden en polyalcoholen met behulp van instrumentele analysemethoden

Field emission in ordered arrays of ZnO nanowires prepared by nanosphere lithography and extended Fowler-Nordheim analyses

A multistage chemical method based on nanosphere lithography was used to produce hexagonally patterned arrays of ZnO vertical nanowires, with 1 lm interspacing and aspect ratio 20, with a view to study the effects of emitter uniformity on the current emitted upon application of a dc voltage across a 250 lm vacuum gap. A new treatment, based on the use of analytical expressions for the image-potential correction functions, was applied to the linear region below 2000 V of the Fowler-Nordheim (FN) plot and showed the most suitable value of the work function / in the range 3.3–4.5 eV (conduction band emission) with a Schottky lowering parameter y ~ 0.72 and a field enhancement factor c in the 700–1100 range. A modeled c value of 200 was calculated for an emitter shape of a prolate ellipsoid of revolution and also including the effect of nanowire screening, in fair agreement with the experimental value. The Fowler-Nordheim current densities and effective emission areas were derived as 1011 Am2 and 1017 m2, respectively, showing that field emission likely takes place in an area of atomic dimensions at the tip of the emitter. Possible causes for the observed departure from linear FN plot behavior above 2000 V were discussed

Relative contribution of various chronic diseases and multi-morbidity to potential disability among Dutch elderly

BACKGROUND: The amount of time spent living with disease greatly influences elderly people’s wellbeing, disability and healthcare costs, but differs by disease, age and sex. METHODS: We assessed how various single and combined diseases differentially affect life years spent living with disease in Dutch elderly men and women (65+) over their remaining life course. Multistate life table calculations were applied to age and sex-specific disease prevalence, incidence and death rates for the Netherlands in 2007. We distinguished congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease (CHD), breast and prostate cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, diabetes, COPD, stroke, dementia and osteoarthritis. RESULTS: Across ages 65, 70, 75, 80 and 85, CHD caused the most time spent living with disease for Dutch men (from 7.6 years at age 65 to 3.7 years at age 85) and osteoarthritis for Dutch women (from 11.7 years at age 65 to 4. 8 years at age 85). Of the various co-occurrences of disease, the combination of diabetes and osteoarthritis led to the most time spent living with disease, for both men (from 11.2 years at age 65 to 4.9 -years at age 85) and women (from 14.2 years at age 65 to 6.0 years at age 85). CONCLUSIONS: Specific single and multi-morbid diseases affect men and women differently at different phases in the life course in terms of the time spent living with disease, and consequently, their potential disability. Timely sex and age-specific interventions targeting prevention of the single and combined diseases identified could reduce healthcare costs and increase wellbeing in elderly people

Kansrijke scenario's Waalblok

Polder Het Waalblok ligt in de gemeente Westland tussen de kern van ’s-Gravenzande en de kust. De polder heeft een oppervlakte van 55 ha, waarvan het grootste gedeelte in gebruik is, en in de toekomst ook blijft, voor de glastuinbouw. Op dit ogenblik vinden er diverse herstructureringsinitiatieven in de glastuinbouw plaats. De telers in het gebied hebben toegezegd mee te werken aan de uitvoering ervan. Hiervoor is een gebiedsproces in gang gezet, waarbij tuinders, LTO, gemeente en hoogheemraadschap betrokken zijn. Genoemde partijen zetten in op de gezamenlijke oplossing van de opgaven in het gebied

A Participatory Return-to-Work Program for Temporary Agency Workers and Unemployed Workers Sick-Listed Due to Musculoskeletal Disorders: a Process Evaluation Alongside a Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction Beside (cost-)effectiveness, the feasibility of an intervention is important for successful implementation in daily practice. This study concerns the process evaluation of a newly developed participatory return-to-work (RTW) program for workers without an employment contract, sick-listed due to musculoskeletal disorders. The program consisted of a stepwise process, guided by an independent RTW coordinator, aimed at making a consensus-based RTW plan with the possibility of a temporary (therapeutic) workplace. The aims of this study were to describe the reach and extent of implementation of the new program, the satisfaction and experiences of all stakeholders, and the perceived barriers and facilitators for implementation of the program in daily practice. Methods Temporary agency workers and unemployed workers, sick-listed for 2–8 weeks due to musculoskeletal disorders were eligible for this study. Data were collected from the workers; their insurance physicians and labour experts at the Dutch Social Security Agency; RTW coordinators; and case managers from participating vocational rehabilitation agencies. Data collection took place using professionals’ reports, standardized matrices, questionnaires at baseline and at 3-month follow-up, and group interviews with the professionals. Results Of the 79 workers who were allocated to the participatory RTW program group, 72 workers actually started with the intervention. Overall, implementation of the program was performed according to protocol. However, offering of suitable temporary workplaces was delayed with 44.5 days. Results showed satisfaction with the RTW coordinator among the workers and three quarters of the labour experts experienced a minor or major contribution of the presence of the RTW coordinator. Several barriers for implementation were identified, such as the administrative time-investment, unclear information about the program, no timely offering of temporary (therapeutic) workplaces, and the need for additional support in case of complex health problems. Conclusions This study indicates overall feasibility for implementation of the participatory RTW program in daily practice. However, to overcome important barriers, more attention should be paid to improve timely offering of suitable temporary workplaces, to describe more clearly the program goals and the professional’s roles, and to offer additional support for workers suffering from complex multi-causal health problems. Trial registration NTR1047

Natural and anthropogenic forcing of Holocene lake ecosystem development at Lake Uddelermeer (The Netherlands)

The majority of water bodies in the world is affected by human impact on their catchment, and pollution of freshwater ecosystems is now considered a global problem. Palaeoecological research allows to reconstruct the natural ecosystem variability of such polluted systems, and many reconstructions that date back a few centuries or beyond inform on the natural background of polluted lakes. Only a limited number of studies have so far looked at long term (e.g. Holocene) changes in lake ecosystem status, even though human impact is known to date back for several millennia in some parts of the world. We apply a combination of classic palaeoecological proxies and novel geochemical proxies in our study of the Holocene sediments of Lake Uddelermeer (The Netherlands). Lake Uddelermeer is a shallow freshwater lake that is currently characterized by turbid conditions. These are currently thought to have resulted from increased agricultural activity in the 20th century AD, but human impact in the surroundings of this site date back to 6000 BP (late Mesolithic/ early Neolithic). We show that the lake ecosystem was characterized by a mix of aquatic macrophytes and abundant phytoplankton throughout the Early and Middle Holocene (11.5-6 cal kyr BP). A transition to a lake ecosystem with clear-water conditions and relatively high abundances of ‘isoetids’ coincides with the first signs of human impact on the landscape around Lake Uddelermeer (6000 cal yr BP). An abrupt and dramatic ecosystem shift can be seen at ~1030 cal yr BP when increases in the abundance of algal microfossils and concentrations of sedimentary pigments indicate a transition to a turbid phytoplankton-dominated state. A strong increase in concentrations of faecal biomarkers can be seen only after 1950 AD, indicating that an increased input of manure-derived material into the lake is not the initial cause for eutrophication of the system. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) suggests that reconstructed lake ecosytem changes are best explained by environmental drivers that show long-term gradual changes (sediment age, water depth). These combined results document the long-term anthropogenic impact on the ecosystem of Lake Uddelermeer and provide evidence for pre-Industrial Era signs of eutrophication