JOBS Program Germany for health promotion among the unemployed in the community setting with institutions for employment promotion (JobsProgramDtl): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background Compared to the employed, the unemployed are characterized by a substantially worse health status, particularly with regards to mental health. At the same time, conventional offers of prevention and health promotion rarely reach the unemployed. The JOBS Program is a health promotion program that combines job application training with elements of social learning theory and self-efficacy. Randomized field studies in the USA and Finland found significant positive effects on reintegration into the labor market and health amongst the unemployed. In this confirmatory study, we analyze whether the JOBS Program produces similar positive effects for the unemployed in Germany. Methods This study is designed as a country-wide, multi-center, non-blinded, two-armed, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial over 6 months. A total of approximately 1500 unemployed, who are willing to participate, are randomly assigned either to an intervention group or a waiting control group with an allocation ratio of 1:1. Guided by a team of two trainers, the intervention group completes JOBS Program Germany in small groups of 8 to 15 unemployed for a period of 1 week in units of 5 h a day. Primary outcome measures are the reintegration into the labor market, self-efficacy, life satisfaction, subjective state of health, depressive symptoms, and psychological distress. Of secondary interest are moderating variables such as socio-demographic characteristics, the duration of unemployment, and the job-search intensity. Outcomes will be repeatedly assessed via computer-assisted telephone interviews at three points in time: immediately before the intervention (pre-test), immediately after the intervention (post-test), and 6 months after the intervention has ended (6-months follow-up). Discussion This confirmatory study will provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the JOBS Program on the reintegration and (mental) health of the unemployed in Germany. If our results from the randomized controlled trail in a country-wide field experiment confirm its effectiveness, the JOBS Program Germany could, perspectively, be implemented into the German employment promotion and social security system on a long-term basis. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS), DRKS00022388. Registered on 20 July, 2020.

Arbeitslosigkeit und Gesundheit als politikfeldübergreifende Herausforderung

ZusammenfassungIn Folge der Corona-Pandemie droht eine weltweite Rezession mit steigender Arbeitslosigkeit. Der Bedarf an Gesundheitsförderung für Arbeitslose leitet sich aufgrund der Wechselbeziehungen von Arbeitslosigkeit und Gesundheit ab. Darauf zielt der Interventionsansatz von JOBS Program, das erstmalig in Deutschland etabliert wird. In der Kooperation von Gesundheitsförderung und Arbeitsförderung liegt eine Handlungsstrategie, um diese gesamtgesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen besser zu bewältigen.

Using Causal Forests to Predict Treatment Heterogeneity: An Application to Summer Jobs

To estimate treatment heterogeneity in two randomized controlled trials of a youth summer jobs program, we implement Wager and Athey's (2015) causal forest algorithm. We provide a step-by-step explanation targeted at applied researchers of how the algorithm predicts treatment effects based on observables. We then explore how useful the predicted heterogeneity is in practice by testing whether youth with larger predicted treatment effects actually respond more in a hold-out sample. Our application highlights some limitations of the causal forest, but it also suggests that the method can identify treatment heterogeneity for some outcomes that more standard interaction approaches would have missed.