Does a specialized assessment improve vocational outcomes for people on sick leave with a suspected common mental disorder? Results from the Mental Health Assessment Study (MeHAS)

Background: In Denmark, 50% of those on long-term sick leave are affected by common mental disorders (CMDs), and it has been argued that detection in primary care has been insufficient. The Mental Health Assessment Study (MeHAS) assesses if specialized mental health assessments can enhance return to work for this group. This study aimed to estimate the effect of a specialized mental health assessment for people on sick leave with a mental health disorder, on return to work and mental health care utilization. Methods and findings: In this experimental study, sickness absentees were referred from a sick leave benefit management agency. Before intervention allocation, they had already received a standard health assessment in general practice. The intervention group received an additional specialized mental health assessment, while the control group did not. We compared the groups on several vocational outcome measures, the primary being proportion in work after one year. Other outcomes were weeks in work, time to return to work (RTW) and different measures of service utilization. We included 717 in the intervention group and 756 in the control group. On the primary outcome, proportion in work, we observed no differences between the groups at 12 months (53.9% vs. 58.7% in the control group, p = 0.133). Moreover, after one year, the control group showed faster RTW at 12-month follow-up (HR 0.79, p