Preventing Sickness Absence With Career Management Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Field Trial

This study examined whether a group intervention focusing on building up preparedness for career management can prevent future sickness absence. Register-based data on the number of sickness absence days and sickness absence episodes were examined as outcomes of the intervention among 684 employees in 17 organizations in a randomized controlled trial. Sickness absence data were collected covering a period from 1 year before (baseline) to approximately 2 years after the intervention (follow-up). The data were analyzed using zero-inflated negative binomial models. After controlling for baseline absence, age, gender, and organization, the intervention was effective in decreasing the number of longer sickness absences (lasting longer than > 2 weeks), but no other significant effects were found. These findings point out that it is feasible to use a career management intervention to prevent future sickness absence in work organizations.