Effectiveness of Individual Placement and Support, Participatory Approach and a combination of both in increasing the labor participation of people with a work disability within the municipal setting.

Rationale: Since 2015, municipalities in the Netherlands are responsible for the welfare to work trajectories of people with a work disability, but who are able to work. Previous research suggests there is room for improvement in these trajectories, and there is a lack of evidence regarding effective elements. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of two interventions that have been shown to be effective in other settings: Individual Placement and Support (IPS), and the Participatory Approach (PA). A randomized controlled trial will be performed in the municipality of Amsterdam, to determine which intervention is most effective to guide people with a work disability to sustainable employment in regular paid jobs, or to enrollment in regular education: IPS, PA, or a combination of both (IPS+PA), in comparison to the usual trajectory. Additionally, a process evaluation will be conducted to gain insight into what elements of the interventions are effective for whom, including interviews with different stakeholders. Objectives: The results of this study will contribute to increasing the quality and effectiveness of the welfare to work trajectories that the municipality of Amsterdam offers to people with a work disability, in order to increase sustainable work participation of this group. Study Design: A randomized controlled trial with a factorial design (one group will receive only IPS, one group will receive only PA, one group will receive IPS+PA, and one group will receive the usual trajectory). A pre-stratification on age (young versus older) and distance to the labour market (small versus large) will be made. Study population: 120 clients aged 16-67 who are entitled to receive a welfare to work trajectory from the municipality and who (presumably) have a work disability. Interventions: in the IPS group, participants will be coached before starting a job and during their job. An important aspect of IPS is ‘first place then train’, i.e. participants will search for a job without courses or training beforehand. The PA is a systematic approach, in which obstacles for work participation will be identified and resolved. After finding a job, the employee and supervisor will identify (potential) obstacles to keep the job and think of solutions for these, under guidance of the job coach. In the IPS+PA group, both interventions are combined (i.e. first place then train, combined with a systematic approach to identify and solve obstacles at the workplace). In the control group, participants will receive the regular welfare to work trajectory from the municipality. This means that they will either first participate in an (unpaid) training or internship, if necessary, and then search for a job with a job coach, or they will immediately search for a job. Main outcome: time until participants find a regular paid job and work for 4 weeks consecutively for at least 12 hours per week, or time until participants are enrolled in regular education.

We hypothesize that the combination of both the IPS and PA intervention is more effective than each of the interventions separately (IPS, or PA), i.e. ‘1+1 = 3’

Data from questionnaires filled in by participants will be collected at baseline, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24 months after inclusion
Data from questionnaires filled in by job coaches will be collected for each client at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after inclusion.

Inclusion of participants started in november 2019 and was finished in november 2021.

In the IPS group, participants will be coached before starting a job and during work. An important aspect of IPS is first place then train, i.e. participants will search for a job without courses and training beforehand. The PA is a systematic approach, in which obstacles for work are identified and resolved. After finding a job, the participant and supervisor will identify (possible) obstacles to keep the job and think of solutions for these obstacles, under guidance of the job coach. In the IPS+PA group, both interventions are combined (i.e. first place then train, combined with a systematic approach to identify and solve problems at the workplace). In the control group, participants will receive the regular welfare to work trajectory from the municipality. This means that if they are not considered ready to work, they will first participate in an (unpaid) training or internship and consequently search for a job with a job coach, and that those ready to work immediately will search for a job with the help of a job coach. After a job is found job coaching is provided when needed.