Benefits Counseling to Preserve Function Among Disability Applicants

VA Office of Research and Development92 enrolled

Overview

This study will address the problem that claimants with psychiatric disabilities who apply for and receive disability benefits go on to work less than those whose claims are denied.

The objective of this research is to conduct a 6-month randomized clinical trial comparing participants assigned to Benefits Counseling and to those assigned to the control condition, VA Orientation. Benefits Counseling is an adaptation of two counseling approaches to foster veterans' involvement in work and work-related activity compared to the control condition, VA Orientation. The first approach helped recipients of Social Security disability benefits for psychiatric illness return to work in part by alleviating beneficiaries' concerns that they would lose their benefits if they worked. The second approach is a Motivational Interviewing approach that showed great promise in engaging veterans with psychiatric disabilities in compensated work therapy.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Veterans' Disability Claims

Interventions

Benefits CounselingBEHAVIORAL

Benefits counseling is designed to improve the quality of life of disability applicants by accomplishing two functions: 1) Providing information concerning what vocational rehabilitation services are available and how they will affect receipt of disability payments, 2) Amplifying applicants' existing motivation to engage in work and related-activities, using a Motivational Interviewing approach.

VA OrientationBEHAVIORAL

VA Orientation is designed to provide the Veteran with information regarding the services available, how to access the services and where the service is located on the VA campus.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 65 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Has never received VBA benefits * Able to provide valid consent * Expresses willingness to discuss benefits with a counselor * Difficulty working as evidenced by a "Yes" to either (a), (b), or (c) of the question below about work-related difficulties: During the past 4 weeks, have you had any of the following problems (such as feeling depressed and anxious): * Cut down on the amount of time you spent on work or other activities? * Accomplished less than you would like? * Didn't do work or other activities as carefully as usual? * Expresses willingness to try Benefits Counseling if assigned to it * An evaluation by a psychiatrist or psychologist is scheduled Exclusion Criteria: * Already receiving VA payments * Already receiving SSI or SSDI payments * Has a conservator

Locations (1)

VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT

West Haven, Connecticut, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Days of Work and Work-related Activity

Number of days in the past 28 spent engaged in any kind of work or related activity. Measured using a timeline follow-back calendar.

Time frame: Baseline

Days of Work and Work-related Activity

Number of days in the past 28 spent engaged in any kind of work or related activity. Measured using a timeline follow-back calendar.

Time frame: Month 1

Days of Work and Work-related Activity

Number of days in the past 28 spent engaged in any kind of work or related activity. Measured using a timeline follow-back calendar.

Time frame: Month 3

Days of Work and Work-related Activity

Number of days in the past 28 spent engaged in any kind of work or related activity. Measured using a timeline follow-back calendar.

Time frame: Month 6

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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