author: Rosen, M. I., Ablondi, K., Black, A. C., Mueller, L., Serowik, K. L., Martino, S., Mobo, B. H., & Rosenheck, R. A. year: 2014 title: "Work outcomes after benefits counseling among veterans applying for service connection for a psychiatric condition" publisher: Psychiatric Services uri: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201300478 pubtype: article discipline: health country: United States period: 2008-2011 maxlength: 6 targeting: explicit group: disabled data: baseline, 3 follow-up surveys; timeline follow-back calendar design: experimental method: RCT sample: 84 unit: individual representativeness: local causal: 1 # 0 correlation / 1 causal theory: limitations: can not locate active ingredient observation: - intervention: counseling (benefits counseling) institutional: 0 structural: 0 agency: 1 inequality: disability; age type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal indicator: 0 # 0 absolute / 1 relative measures: hours worked (rtw) findings: counseling had significant increas on more waged days worked; on average 3 additional days worked in 28 days preceding measurement channels: not clear, neither belief about work, benefits, nor mental health/substance abuse service use increased significantly direction: 1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos significance: 2 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg notes: annotation: | An experimental study on the impacts of benefits and vocational counseling for disabled veterans in the United States, measuring effects on the return to work through average hours worked. It identifies time worked through a timeline follow-back calendar, measuring the change in days worked in the 28 days preceding the final study measurement. Here, it finds the sessions having a significant increase on more waged days worked, with an additional three days for the 28 preceding days on average. One limitation is the inability of the study to locate an active ingredient: Though the intervention clearly aims at strengthening some aspect of individual agency, the exact mediators are not clear, with neither beliefs about work, beliefs about benefits, nor provided service use for mental health or substance abuse impacted significantly.