Information and feedback to improve occupational physicians' reporting of occupational diseases: a randomised controlled trial.

Author(s): Lenderink AF, Spreeuwers D, van der Klink JJ, van Dijk FJ

Affiliation(s): Netherlands Centre for Occupational Diseases, Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam, PO Box 22660, 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, a.f.lenderink@amc.uva.nl.

Publication date & source: 2009-10-15, Int Arch Occup Environ Health., [Epub ahead of print]

Publication type:

PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness of supplying occupational physicians (OPs) with targeted and stage-matched information or with feedback on reporting occupational diseases to the national registry in the Netherlands. METHODS: In a randomized controlled design, 1076 OPs were divided into three groups based on previous reporting behaviour: precontemplators not considering reporting, contemplators considering reporting and actioners reporting occupational diseases. Precontemplators and contemplators were randomly assigned to receive stage-matched, stage-mismatched or general information. Actioners were randomly assigned to receive personalized or standardized feedback upon notification. Outcome measures were the number of OPs reporting and the number of reported occupational diseases in a 180-day period before and after the intervention. RESULTS: Precontemplators were significantly more male and self-employed compared to contemplators and actioners. There was no significant effect of stage-matched information versus stage-mismatched or general information on the percentage of reporting OPs and on the mean number of notifications in each group. Receiving any information affected reporting more in contemplators than in precontemplators. The mean number of notifications in actioners increased more after personalized feedback than after standardized feedback, but the difference was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the concept that contemplators are more susceptible to receiving information but could not confirm an effect of stage-matching this information on reporting occupational diseases to the national registry.