Informing a Workplace Self-Management Intervention for Employees with Long-Term Health Conditions and Disabilities: A Mixed-Methods Study

Purpose No practical, scalable framework currently exists for UK workplaces to support self-management of LTCs/disabilities in collaboration with employers and health systems. This study aimed to understand the essential components of a workplace-based intervention to support self-management for individuals with long-term health conditions and disabilities to inform the development of a new intervention to support self-management. Methods A multi-step, mixed methods approach was used. Obstacles and facilitators to workplace self-management were identified from prior research were translated into guided activities for multi-stakeholder workshops (workers, managers, employer stakeholders, ICS, professional bodies, charities, and trade unions). The participants discussed each obstacle/facilitator in groups either online or in-person workshops. Workshop findings informed a three-round electronic Delphi study was conducted. Reflexive inductive thematic analysis was conducted for the workshop findings and SPSS was utilised for the Delphi findings. Results Twelve obstacles and facilitators were identified and discussed in the workshops. Three themes were generated for the support needs of the workers, two for managers, and three for employer stakeholders from the workshops. At the end of the Delphi, 13 out of 14 statements reached consensus for intervention delivery, and 54 out of 59 statements reached consensus for intervention content. Conclusion Consensus supported the development of a co-designed, flexible and multi-format intervention tailored to workers with a long-term health condition or disability, managers and employer stakeholders. Active engagement with diverse organisational stakeholders is likely to improve uptake and consistency.