Department ENT/Audiology and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
BMC Public Health. 2012 Mar 1;12:151. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-151.
Hearing impairment at the workplace, and the resulting psychosocial problems are a major health problem with substantial costs for employees, companies, and society. Therefore, it is important to develop interventions to support hearing impaired employees. The objective of this article is to describe the design of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the (cost-) effectiveness of a Vocational Enablement Protocol (VEP) compared with usual care.
METHODS/DESIGN: Participants will be selected with the 'Hearing and Distress Screener'. The study population will consist of 160 hearing impaired employees. The VEP intervention group will be compared with usual care. The VEP integrated care programme consists of a multidisciplinary assessment of auditory function, work demands, and personal characteristics. The goal of the intervention is to facilitate participation in work. The primary outcome measure of the study is 'need for recovery after work'. Secondary outcome measures are coping with hearing impairment, distress, self-efficacy, psychosocial workload, job control, general health status, sick leave, work productivity, and health care use. Outcome measures will be assessed by questionnaires at baseline, and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after baseline. The economic evaluation will be performed from both a societal and a company perspective. A process evaluation will also be performed.
Interventions addressing occupational difficulties of hearing impaired employees are rare but highly needed. If the VEP integrated care programme proves to be (cost-) effective, the intervention can have an impact on the well-being of hearing impaired employees, and thereby, on the costs for the company as well for the society.
Netherlands Trial Register (NTR): NTR2782.
工作场所的听力损伤以及由此产生的心理社会问题是一个主要的健康问题，给员工、公司和社会带来了巨大的成本。因此，开发干预措施来支持听力受损的员工非常重要。本文的目的是描述一项随机对照试验的设计，该试验评估了职业赋能协议（VEP）与常规护理相比的（成本）效果。
方法/设计：参与者将通过“听力和困扰筛查器”进行选择。研究人群将包括 160 名听力受损的员工。VEP 干预组将与常规护理进行比较。VEP 综合护理计划包括对听觉功能、工作需求和个人特征的多学科评估。干预的目标是促进工作参与。研究的主要结局指标是“工作后恢复的需求”。次要结局指标是应对听力障碍、困扰、自我效能感、心理社会工作量、工作控制、一般健康状况、病假、工作生产力和卫生保健使用。在基线、基线后 3、6、9 和 12 个月将通过问卷评估结局指标。经济评估将从社会和公司两个角度进行。还将进行过程评估。
针对听力受损员工职业困难的干预措施很少见，但非常需要。如果 VEP 综合护理计划被证明是（成本）有效的，那么干预措施可以对听力受损员工的幸福感产生影响，从而对公司和社会的成本产生影响。
荷兰试验注册处（NTR）：NTR2782。
