Can vocational advice be delivered in primary care? The Work And Vocational advicE (WAVE) mixed method single arm feasibility study

OBJECTIVES: Most patients with health conditions necessitating time off work consult in primary care. Offering vocational advice (VA) early within this setting may help them to return to work and reduce sickness absence. Previous research shows the benefits of VA interventions for musculoskeletal pain in primary care, but an intervention for a much broader primary care patient population has yet to be tested. The Work And Vocational advicE feasibility study tested patient identification and recruitment methods, explored participants' experiences of being invited to the study and their experiences of receiving VA. DESIGN: A mixed method, single arm feasibility study comprising both quantitative and qualitative analysis of recruitment and participation in the study. SETTING: Primary care. METHODS: The study included participant follow-up by fortnightly Short Message Service text and 6-week questionnaire. Stop/go criteria focus on recruitment and intervention engagement. The semistructured interviews explored participants' experiences of recruitment and receipt and engagement with the intervention. RESULTS: 19 participants were recruited (4.3% response rate). Identification of participants via retrospective fit-note searches was reasonably successful (13/19 (68%) identified), recruitment stop/go criteria were met with ≥50% of those eligible and expressing an interest recruited. The stop/go criterion for intervention engagement was met with 16/19 (86%) participants having at least one contact with a vocational support worker. Five participants were interviewed; they reported positive experiences of recruitment and felt the VA intervention was acceptable. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that delivering VA in primary care is feasible and acceptable. To ensure a future trial is feasible, recruitment strategies and data collection methods require additional refinement. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04543097.