Sustain-WORK-ability 

People living with arthritis have a significant impact on their work participation and temporary or permanent work loss is common. Work-focused occupational therapy interventions have the potential to enable individuals with arthritis to sustain employment; however, current provision remains heterogeneous.  Variability in vocational rehabilitation pathways, assessment practices, and intervention approaches has limited the development of clear, evidence-based recommendations for clinical practice. The need for evidence-based interventions to support work participation is recognised and recommended as a priority in the Irish Rheumatology model of care. Use of digital health technology is growing in healthcare as a mode of delivery particularly since the pandemic, providing new opportunities for innovative models of care delivery. Digital interventions offer potential benefits to the person and the health service by facilitating timely access to support and reducing time absent from work.

The overall aim of this research programme is to contribute to the knowledge base by designing and testing a digital work intervention for individuals with arthritis using a sequential mixed methods approach along the MRC framework

Research Team

Dr. Yvonne Codd, Susan Somerville (PhD Scholar), Dr. Christina MT Madsen, (University of Southern Denmark)