Five projects are receiving funding from Forte to investigate methods of preventing sick leave and treating people who are on sick leave. Between them, the projects will be sharing SEK 28.5 million over three years.

The research projects are targeted at initiatives for people with mental illnesses and pain conditions – the two most common causes of long-term sick leave in Sweden today. The initiative is being performed on behalf of the government, to contribute to the objective of providing as many people as possible with good support in returning to work following sick leave. This requires more research and knowledge of effective methods. The initiative also aims to find out more about which factors and measures are best for preventing sick leave.

The projects currently being financed will be part of a network coordinated by Forte, together with research projects from past and future calls for proposals in this area. The aim is that the network will provide support for the groups of researchers through the sharing of experiences and knowledge. An initial meeting will be held in autumn 2018.

The research projects being financed:

Region Västra Götaland: Early identification of risk for and PREVention of Sickness Absence due to Musculoskeletal pain: PREVSAM – a randomized controlled trial

Karolinska Institutet: A problem-solving intervention in primary health care: Is the intervention cost-effective and compatible with ethical values?

Region Västra Götaland: Cooperation for patients with stress-induced mental disorder: collaborative care in the primary care and intervention at the workplace – Co-Work-Care-Stress; a cluster-randomised controlled trial

Uppsala University: The rehabilitation co-ordinators impact on sick leave and return to/commencement of work or studies in the psychiatric specialist care

Örebro University: Prevent Sickleave (PS): An RCT on the effects of a workplace focused program to prevent stress- and painrelated sickleave

You can find a more detailed list of the projects financed, including project leaders and funds awarded, on the page Grant decisions.

Past calls for research on the return to work

In 2016, Forte announced an earlier call for proposals to fund research on the return to work after sick leave. Six of the applicant research projects were granted funding. Read more about the previously granted projects.