Intensified return to work aftercare in psychiatric institute outpatient clinics of care clinics

The enrollment of study participants has already ended.

What is it about?

Our return-to-work project aims to develop a new form of care and test its usefulness. The aim is to help employees return to work after a period of mental illness. After longer periods of illness, it is important to adapt the return to work to the individual's ability to cope with stress in order to avoid overworking or underworking. Gradual reintegration is often a good way to find or maintain a balance between work, private life and health. We would like to support you in this reintegration process.

Our offer consists of different parts. We offer participants in the intervention group a consultation hour in which we can discuss current difficulties at or with the workplace together. We would also like to give you the opportunity to discuss the reintegration process at work with us before and after.

Another component of our project is a group program in which you have the opportunity to exchange experiences with others and learn important skills for a long-term and, above all, healthy return to work.

For long-term stabilization, we also provide you with an online tool that helps you to continuously practice newly learned strategies for dealing with stress and workload and integrate them into your everyday life.

Who can take part?

Our program is aimed at people who are currently on sick leave due to a mental illness and want to return to work.

At which locations is participation possible?

Facilities or Institutions participating in our project are located in Hanover, Hamburg, Berlin, Rinteln and Bad Berleburg.

• Study and data protection information
• flyer

After musculoskeletal disorders, mental disorders are the second most common cause of incapacity for work. On average, they lead to the longest periods of incapacity for work, cause almost one in two early retirements (42 percent) and can lead to long-term unemployment. Dealing with mental disorders poses major challenges for those affected as well as for companies and society. A key task in the future will therefore be to make the return to work after treatment as sustainable as possible. In order to meet this challenge, our multicenter research project RTW-PIA, in cooperation with five care clinics, is investigating intervention methods to support reintegration after psychiatric treatment. Medical-therapeutic methods are specifically combined with company measures in order to strengthen the dialog between those affected and key company players and to facilitate a long-term return to work.

The overarching aim is to establish a new form of care at the interface between medical-therapeutic and occupational health management for people with mental disorders. For the group of patients who have received the RTW-PIA intervention, we expect the following compared to the control group

• a sustainable return to work without longer periods of absence
• a reduction in the risk of reduced earning capacity through improved relapse prevention
• an improvement in functionality and self-efficacy expectations
• cost savings for social insurance providers, companies and society for RTW-PIA compared to standard care
• In addition, the accompanying research should provide indications of moderating variables for a successful reintegration process

The group treatment concept will be presented in detail in a manual and, in the event of a positive evaluation, will be anchored in the task profile of the psychiatric outpatient clinics.

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact your local study center:

Hannover Medical School
Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover
Tel.: 0511 5327362
E-mail: rtw-pia@mh-hannover.de

Asklepios Klinikum Harburg
Eißendorfer Pferdeweg 52, 21075 Hamburg
Tel.: 040 1818864928
E-mail: rtw-pia.harburg@asklepios.com

Alexianer St. Joseph-Krankenhaus Berlin-Weißensee
Gartenstraße 1, 13088 Berlin
Phone: 030 31988134
Email: sjkw-returntowork@alexianer.de

Burghof-Clinical Department GmbH
Virchowstraße 5, 31737 Rinteln
Phone: 05751 940696
E-mail: burghof-klinik-rtw-pia@burghof-klinik.de

Clinical Department Wittgenstein
Sählingstraße 60, 57319 Bad Berleburg
Tel.: 02751 811326
E-Mail: rtw-pia@johanneswerk.de

The consortium has formed an advisory board for the duration of the project. The aim of the advisory board is to advise the consortium on the implementation of the research project. In particular, the advisory board should take into account the perspectives of various interest groups in the work of the consortium in order to promote the adaptation and anchoring of the intervention in the healthcare landscape. The advisory board will meet at least once a year.

• Dr. Astrid Freisen
  Senior physician for psychiatry at Landspítali University Hospital, Reykjavik / Iceland,
  Head of the "Self-Affected Professionals" unit of the German Society for Bipolar Disorders DGBS e.V.
  "Self-Affected Professionals" unit of the German Society for Bipolar Disorders DGBS e.V.

• Prof. Dr. Detlef Dietrich
  Medical Director
  AMEOS Klinikum Hildesheim
• Dr. Sibel Vildan Altin
  Head of Care Innovation Department
  AOK Rheinland / Hamburg
• Dr. Elisa Clauß
  Ergonomics / Social Security
  BDA Confederation of German Employers' Associations
• Dr. Uwe Gerecke
  Member of the Executive Committee and Scientific Director of the VDBW
  VDBW Verband Deutscher Betriebs- und Werksärzte e.V. (Association of German Company and Works Doctors)
• Michael Wenninghoff
  Managing director
  BGF Institute for Workplace Health Promotion BGF GmbH

The study is funded by the Federal Joint Committee with approx. 4.3 million euros.

No new announcements

Previous events:

• BEM symposium 2024

Lecture on 06.09.2024, 10:15 to 11:45 am,

Organizer: ifb Institut zur Fortbildung von Betriebsräten GmbH & Co KG,
Location: HKK Hotel Wernigerode, Pfarrstraße 41, 38855 Wernigerode,

Title: "Back to work after mental illness - good work is the best medicine", "Successful reintegration after mental illness - the latest findings from research"

• Hildesheim FORUM Neuro- & Psychotherapy for further training and interdisciplinary exchange

Program in summer 2024 Online lectures every Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:30 pm

• Axon symposium in Königslutteron 30.05.2024

Prof. G. Szycik; Return to Work: A project for a sustainable return to the workplace

• Lecture to the Work & Rehabilitation specialist group of the Hannover Region, Social Psychiatric Service on 06.12.2023

Prof. G. Szycik; Return to Work: Intensified aftercare in psychiatric institute outpatient clinics of care clinics (RTW-PIA)

• Project presentation as part of the research project on 05.12.2023

On 05.12.2023, the RTW-PIA project was presented in the form of an expert interview with Dr. Hans-Peter Unger as part of the research project "Burnout related practices and their implications in selected countries" of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health with Tampere University.

• Project presentation as part of the symposium on 25.11.2023

On 25.11.2023, the RTW-PIA project was presented by Dr. Hans-Peter Unger as part of the symposium "Executives: Depression and Co" at the My Way Psychiatric Clinical Department in Cologne.

• Taking the weight off work anxiety together 18.10.2023 14:00 - 16:00

Working people with mental stress or a mental illness, their relatives and professionals can find out about the connections between work and mental health at these events. Two short keynote speeches will introduce the topic, followed by a panel discussion.

When: Wednesday, 18.10.23, 14:00-16:00

Where: Alexianer St. Joseph-Krankenhaus Berlin-Weißensee, St. Alexiussaal, Gartenstr. 1, 13088 Berlin

• Project presentation at the DGPPN Congress in Berlin from Nov 23, 2022 to Nov 26, 2022

At this year's expert summit in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, our "RTW-PIA" project will also be presented as part of a symposium. Under the chairmanship of Prof. Szycik and Prof. Riedel-Heller, different aspects of the project will be discussed in four short presentations:

Ms. Schneller will first present the current care situation for employees with mental illness,

Dr. Borgolte will then go into detail about the contents of the RTW-PIA intervention,

Dr. Unger will explain the online intervention for sustainable return to work and finally

Ms. Starke will describe the study design and the study evaluation in the context of our multicenter study.

• Symposium: Good work is the best medicine - changing work, leadership and mental health

Friday, November 4, 2022, 9.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Haus der Region, Hildesheimer Str. 18, Hanover

Prof. Dr. Gregor Szycik, Hannover Medical School :

Depression - symptoms, diagnosis, treatment options and presentation of the project "Return to Work in Psychiatric Institute Outpatient Clinics (RTW-PIA)" - a project for a sustainable return to the workplace

• 20th Annual Conference of the German Society for Bipolar Disorders DGBS from Sept. 23 - 25, 2021 in Heilbronn

Dr. Hans-Peter Unger, Chief Physician of the Centre for Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics ASKLEPIOS KLINIKUM Harburg, gave the lecture "Returning to work after a bipolar phase: What do I say and what do I not say?" as part of the symposium "Work and family" and referred to our project in this context.

• Project presentation at the DGPPN's digital capital city symposium "Ready for the future: psychiatric research in Germany.

On Tuesday, June 22, 2021, the DGPPN's digital capital symposium presented selected, publicly funded projects that aim to improve the treatment of mental illness and make it more needs-based. Our project "Return to Work: Support and Aftercare for Return to Work (RTW-PIA)" was presented there by Prof. Gregor Szycik from Hannover Medical School as a new care model.

• Szycik, GR, RTW-PIA: Intensified return to work aftercare in psychiatric outpatient clinics. Interdisciplinary health services research 3 (4), 2023

• Starke, F., Sikora, A., Stegmann, R. et al. Evaluating a multimodal, clinical and work-directed intervention (RTW-PIA) to support sustainable return to work among employees with mental disorders: study protocol of a multicentre, randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry 23, 380 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04753-5

• Fiona Starke from the BAuA presented a poster on RTW-PIA at the 33rd Rehabilitation Science Colloquium (March 18-20, 2024 in Bremen): "Descriptive characteristics of employees on sick leave with a mental disorder: a baseline investigation of the RTW-PIA study population" (Fiona Starke; Uta Wegewitz)