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Current research
Training occupational therapists in completion of the Allied Health Professions Advisory Fitness for Work Report (CREATE)
This research study is funded by the UK Occupational Therapy Research Foundation (UKOTRF) for twelve months starting in December 2018.
In November 2017 the UK government’s Work and Health Unit published its strategy document ‘Improving Lives, the Future of Work, Health and Disability’, detailing its ten year plan for one million more disabled people to be in work.
One of the planned major policy changes will be to reform the Fit Note, and to undertake development work around legislation to extend sickness certification to other healthcare professions.
The purpose of this study is to develop two methods of training for occupational therapists in advising on patients' fitness for work. We will develop a face-to-face group training programme and an on-line training programme about completion of the AHP Advisory Fitness for Work Report.
There are two phases to the study:
Phase 1: Occupational therapists from NHS Trusts in the East Midlands area will be recruited to two ½ day workshops to help design the training.
Phase 2: The group face-to-face training programme and the on-line training programme will undergo feasibility testing with another group of occupational therapists.
The on-line training programme will then be released on open access to gain further feedback from a wider group of occupational therapists.
Completed projects
Getting the best from the GP fit note
Helping to improve the process of getting people back to work.
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MENTOR: Mental health first aid in the workplace: A feasibility study
Many UK employers have funded members of their workforce to attend MHFA courses.
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Facilitating return to work through early specialist health-based interventions (FRESH)
(led by Associate Professor Kate Radford from the Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing)
This randomised controlled trial aims to determine whether it is possible to develop a treatment manual, training package and mentoring framework, based on the Early Specialist Traumatic Brain Injury Vocational Rehabilitation model (ESTVR) developed here at the University of Nottingham. Led by Associate Professor Kate Radford from the Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing, the study will examine the effects and cost-effectiveness of ESTVR in three NHS trauma centres.
Pre-protocol planning to inform a study of employed patients with mild to moderate mental health disorders and the impact of the GP fit note on mental health and work outcomes
Supporting workers with musculoskeletal conditions: a study of occupational therapists’ communication with patients and their employers