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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on September 26, 2005
British Journal of Social Work 2006 36(1):127-138; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch229
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Patients with Minor Mental Disorders Leading to Sickness Absence: A Feasibility Study for Social Workers’ Participation in a Treatment Programme

Evelien P. M. Brouwers, Berend Terluin, Bea G. Tiemens and Peter F. M. Verhaak

Evelien P. M. Brouwers, Ph.D., is a psychologist and principal investigator at the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, The Netherlands. Berend Terluin, MD, Ph.D., is a general practitioner and senior investigator at the Department of General Practice, Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Bea G. Tiemens, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist and senior investigator at the Gelderse Roos Institute for Professionalisation, Wolfheze, The Netherlands. Peter F. M. Verhaak, Ph.D., is a psychologist and research co-ordinator at the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Correspondence to Peter Verhaak, Ph.D., Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, PO Box 1568, 3500 BN Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail: p.verhaak{at}nivel.nl

Minor mental disorders are common among patients who visit their general practitioner. In the Netherlands, they are associated with high costs due to absenteeism, disability benefits and medical consumption (consumption of drugs as well as expenditure of medical staff’s time). In the Netherlands, a protocol was developed for the treatment of minor mental disorders, based on the principles of brief cognitive behaviour therapy. The cost-effectiveness of this protocol was tested in a group of patients whose minor mental disorders had lead to sickness absence. The protocol was completed by Dutch social workers, one of whose core tasks normally is to provide psychosocial care. The main aims of the protocol are for the patient to regain functionality and to prevent long-term disability. The protocol emphasizes patients’ own responsibility and active role in the recovery process, includes homework assignments and stresses the importance of early work resumption. This article focuses on a discussion of the feasibility of this treatment for minor mental disorders. The evidence for or against the protocol’s cost-effectiveness will be discussed in future papers. The results show that patients, social workers and general practitioners were motivated to participate and that the protocol was well received by all three groups. If the treatment also proves to be cost-effective, it would appear to be a promising intervention for a frequently encountered problem in primary care.

Keywords: minor mental disorders, social work, treatment, primary care.


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 Eur J Public HealthHome page
E. P. M. Brouwers, M. C. d. Bruijne, B. Terluin, B. G. Tiemens, and P. F. M. Verhaak
Cost-effectiveness of an activating intervention by social workers for patients with minor mental disorders on sick leave: a randomized controlled trial
Eur J Public Health, April 1, 2007; 17(2): 214 - 220.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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