Vocational Rehabilitation After Critical Illness
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing a vocational rehabilitation intervention for people who survive a critical Illness.
IRAS ID
332495
Contact name
Eleanor Douglas
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
This research study will develop a vocational rehabilitation intervention to support people who wish to return to work after a critical illness. A critical illness requires admission to an intensive care unit, commonly due to a severe infection or after major surgery. Vocational rehabilitation interventions help people return to a work after an illness, it may include an assessment of their work needs and liaising with their employer. Currently, vocational rehabilitation is not provided for critical illness survivors and research shows only 40-50% of survivors are back at work a year after their critical illness.
The research study has two stages:
In Stage 1 - we will explore what prevents or helps survivors return to work after their illness, what support they need and how they think a vocational rehabilitation intervention could be provided by the NHS. To do this we will interview people who were working prior to their illness and family members. We will also interview and hold discussion groups with healthcare professionals, employers, experts in this subject (such as researchers) and people who fund healthcare to understand what will prevent or help provide vocational rehabilitation for critical illness survivors in the NHS.
In Stage 2 - we will 'co-design' a vocational rehabilitation intervention specifically for critical illness survivors. We will host workshops with survivors, family members, healthcare professionals, employers, subject area experts and people who fund healthcare to plan the content of the intervention, plan how it will be delivered and decide what will be measures of the programme’s effectiveness.
At the end of this study we will have designed a vocational rehabilitation intervention for critical illness survivors that is ready to be tested in a future research trial to see if it can be delivered in the NHS, and if it is acceptable to people receiving and delivering the intervention.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/PR/0229
Date of REC Opinion
4 Apr 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion