Main findings
anxiety, CMD, depression/anxiety, depression, CMD depression
The main finding was that there were no differences in sick leave days between intervention and control groups. A structured early cooperation among care manager, GP and rehabilitation coordinator at the PCC combined with a person-centred dialogue meeting between the sick-listed person and employer, with the rehabilitation coordinator as a moderator, did not lead to shortened sick leave time in comparison with usual care manager contact only. Patients with CMD diagnoses—both when sick leave days were studied for CMD diagnoses only as well as total sick leave for all diagnoses—showed no significant differences concerning sick leave days.However, for patients with moderate-to-high symptom levels of depression and anxiety, there were also significant differences in levels of CMD depression and/or anxiety symptoms at 12 months between intervention and control groups, but no difference at all concerning stress symptoms. This indicates that a closer cooperation and a planned person-centred dialogue meeting could be beneficial for the mental well-being of persons with moderate-to-high symptom levels of depression/anxiety, as indicated by significantly lower levels of depression and anxiety symptoms after 12 months. This is an important finding, as individuals with severe symptoms of depression and anxiety may be the most difficult to help and have been shown to have the longest sick leave period among patients with CMD.