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8275606 Evidence-based interventions to prevent sick leave: a scoping review of reviews

oemed · 2025-10-06 · canonical JSON source

3 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Objective Despite the large body of research on interventions aimed at preventing sick leave, the evidence is scattered and a comprehensive overview is lacking. Therefore, this scoping review of reviews aimed to provide an overview of evidence-based interventions to prevent sick leave.Material and Methods Embase and PsycInfo were systematically searched. A review was included when at least one of the included original intervention studies fulfilled three criteria: 1) target group was active workers not on sick leave, 2) sick leave was studied as outcome, and 3) the intervention was evaluated using a controlled design. Results were descriptively summarized and grouped based on sick leave cause and intervention type. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the studied interventions in preventing sick leave was reported.Results Twenty-eight reviews were included. Eight reviews focused on preventing sick leave due to physical health problems, ten on mental health problems, and ten on all-cause sick leave. Overall, the reviews identified a lack of effective interventions to prevent sick leave. However, multi-component interventions consisting of both individual and environmental components aimed at workers’ lifestyle and mental health were promising to prevent sick leave in the general working population).Certain specific interventions targeting workers at risk were effective, such as cognitive behavioral therapy programs for workers with anxiety and depression. Lastly, exercise programs were most effective in preventing sick leave due to physical health problems (e.g. low back pain prevention).Conclusion This scoping review identified reviews on sick leave prevention across a broad scope of health problems, types of interventions, and target groups. Although a few types of effective interventions for preventing sick leave were identified, the included reviews indicate a limited availability of effective interventions. This partially stems from insufficient evidence, raising the need for more randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up including sick leave as outcome.