The effect of individual enabling and support on empowerment and depression severity in persons with affective disorders: outcome of a randomized control trial

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of Individual Enabling and Support (IES) on empowerment and depression severity as compared to Traditional Vocational Rehabilitation (TVR) in people with affective disorders at 12 months follow-up. Additionally, longitudinal changes within the intervention groups and the correlation over time between empowerment and depression severity were evaluated. Method: A single-blind randomized controlled trial of two intervention groups, IES (n = 33) and TVR (n = 28), was performed with measurement points at baseline, 6, and 12 months. Individuals with affective disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder diagnoses were included. The Empowerment Scale and Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Self-Rating Scale were administered, and Intention-To-Treat analysis was applied. The study was registered with the trial number ISRCTN93470551. Result: There was a statistically significant difference between the intervention groups on empowerment and depression severity at 12 months. Within-group analysis showed that IES-participants increased their perceived empowerment and decreased their depression severity between measurement points, this was not seen among TVR-participants. A moderate, inverse relationship was detected between empowerment and depression. Conclusion: IES is more effective in increasing empowerment and decreasing depression severity after a 12-month intervention than is TVR. This study was limited by a small sample size and larger trials in different contexts are needed.