Feasibility of a Vocational Rehabilitation Intervention for Job Retention in Workers With MS-RiaLSM Intervention Project

Summary

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system with both inflammatory and degenerative characteristics that affects approximately 136,000 people in Italy. The highest incidence of disease onset occurs between the ages of 20 and 40, which corresponds to the most productive period of a person's life. For this reason, one of the main social consequences of MS is the reduction or abandonment of work activity, which often begins in the early stages of the disease. Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) interventions, as reported in the literature, are used to manage and reduce work-related difficulties. The goal of VR is to enable individuals who experience difficulties in performing work activities to access, find, and maintain employment. This approach is characterized by its multi-professional and multidimensional nature, involving different types of interventions carried out by various professionals in diverse settings.

The overall aim of the project is to define a Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) protocol to reduce work-related challenges and promote job retention for workers with MS within the Italian healthcare and social context. The intervention will be organised into three different areas: rehabilitation, reasonable accommodation and education. Participants will receive any of the three interventions or a combination of these. The study will involve a multidisciplinary team of doctors (e.g. neurologist, physiatrist), psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers, and labour law experts who will be involved according to the subject's specific needs.

Conditions

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Vocational Rehabilitation

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Vocational Rehabilitation intervention for pwMS

The VR intervention will cover three areas of intervention: * Rehabilitation Area: this intervention has the goal of managing the work performance from a rehabilitative point of view. * Reasonable accommodation area: this intervention has the goal of assessing the needs of reasonable accommodations, such has workspace modification, change in organization of the activities, management of work time, etc.., and propose it to the employer. * Educational and Formative Area: this area is responsible for the implementation of educational intervention for the employees and the employers about multiple sclerosis and its impact on work performance, the rights and obligations of the employer and employee about disability management on the workplace.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Italian Multiple Sclerosis Society (AISM)Liguria, Genoa

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• IRCCS San Martino Hospital, Genoa

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Italian Workers' Compensation Authority (INAIL)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Department of Health Science (DiSSaL), University of Genoa, Genoa

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Giampaolo Brichetto, PhD · Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-01-15

Primary Completion

2025-10-31

Completion

2025-10-31

Countries

• Italy

Study Locations