There was an intriguing finding of differential impact from one New Deal study, for example, with a greater likelihood of employment following participation in the programme for participants who had been claiming incapacity benefit for three years or more, those furthest from the labour market and those living in areas with the highest rates of economic inactivity.
These results should be interpreted with caution, however, since the voluntary participation in the programme might have biased towards participants with a high motivation and a positive attitude towards (return to) work.
At the one-year follow-up, the participants in the stress programme emphasised that their participation in the programme and the feeling of receiving competent support were in themselves important contributions to those activities, which they had to undertake in order to return to work.
Participants reported high levels of educational goal achievement from participation in the programme.
Moreover, participation in the programme was rarely consistent, with most participants having variable bouts of absence throughout the intervention.
The support of CHAP sessions by family physicians helped to promote participation in the programme and timely follow-up of participants.
It was made clear to patients that if they choose not to participate in the research study it would not affect their participation in the programme or their medical care in any way.
It says it has solid evidence that participation in the programme more than pays for the rewards: active participants are less likely to fall ill and, if they do, they spend a shorter time in hospital.This model has taken Discovery from "one man and a desk" in 1992 to become South Africa's largest health insurer, with 5,000 employees.
The companies mentioned have all denied knowledge of or participation in the programme.
No sweeteners or financial inducements were offered or made by Optomen to the towns to encourage their participation in the programme.
Technology or market orientations appear almost equally as basic motivations for company participation in the programme.
