Implementation of a Web-Based Work-Related Psychological Aftercare Program Into Clinical Routine: Results of a Longitudinal Observational Study

As inpatient medical rehabilitation serves to promote work ability, vocational reintegration is a crucial outcome. However, previous Web-based trials on coping with work-related stress have been limited to Web-based recruitment of study participants. The aim of our study was to evaluate the implementation of an empirically supported transdiagnostic psychodynamic Web-based aftercare program GSA (Gesund und Stressfrei am Arbeitsplatz [Healthy and stress-less at the workplace])-Online plus into the clinical routine of inpatient medical rehabilitation, to identify characteristics of patients who have received the recommendation for GSA-Online plus, and to determine helpfulness of the intervention and satisfaction of the participants as well as improvement in quality of life and mental health status of the regular users of GSA-Online plus. GSA-Online plus was prescribed by physicians at termination of orthopedic psychosomatic inpatient rehabilitation. Participants' use of the program, work-related attitudes, distress, and quality of life were assessed on the Web. In 2 rehabilitation centers, 4.4% (112/2562) of rehabilitants got a recommendation for GSA-Online plus during inpatient rehabilitation. Compared with usual person aftercare, the Web-based aftercare program was rarely recommended by physicians. Recommendations were made more frequently in psychosomatic (69/1172, 5.9%) than orthopedic (43/1389, 3.1%) rehabilitation (χ =11.845, P=.001, Cramér V=-0.068) and to younger patients (P=.004, d=0.28) with longer inpatient treatment duration (P