Customized participation process
Over the past few years, you've had to make significant sacrifices due to your illness: your health, your work, and part of your income. Your social life has also changed. The impact of your illness is profound. The period surrounding your WIA (Work and Income according to Capacity for Work) application is often uncertain and confronting. The WIA decision provides a moment of clarity and peace. Then, questions gradually arise about how to shape your daily life. Everything continues to revolve, and this can feel lonely. You want to know how you can continue to participate in society within your own capabilities. We are happy to think along with you and help you take a Step Forward.
Stap Vooruit offers 80 patients a personalized support program. As a participant, you will be assigned a personal case manager who will meet with you and, where necessary, your loved ones and relevant professionals. The case manager will work with you to determine what support is needed, which loved ones or professionals can assist, and where additional knowledge about the condition is desirable. If necessary, the case manager will contact other professionals and facilitate connections between all involved parties, such as your general practitioner, a district nurse, a Social Support Act (Wmo) consultant, or someone from the neighborhood team. All this is aimed at promoting your participation in society.
What does the participation process entail?
The program lasts six months and consists of 10 to 12 (telephone) conversations of 45 to 60 minutes each with the case manager. This amounts to approximately one contact moment every two weeks. The case manager is employed by Q&A support.
Before you begin, you will complete a short questionnaire. This will take about 15 minutes. The questions concern your level of participation in society and the impact of your symptoms on this. You will receive a summary of your answers, which you will discuss with the case manager. Together, you will map the impact of your condition on all aspects of your life. You will also assess which areas of your life pose the greatest challenges to taking a Step Forward. Together, you will determine the goals for the support program and the associated actions. This will be documented in a Personal Participation Plan, which will serve as the guideline for this program. Your questions and needs are central. The case manager will provide information and advice and, where necessary, involve family members and professionals for additional support.
After the process, you'll complete another questionnaire. This allows us to see how the participation process helped you and how you experienced the case manager's support.
Who can participate?
Patients:
- With post-COVID, Q fever or complaints after COVID-19 vaccination;
- Those who received a WIA decision no later than 1,5 years ago (after 1-8-24) with a disability percentage of 35-80% or 80-100%;
- Those who are willing to follow the course for 6 months;
- Those who agree to the consent statements and the privacy statement.
Important to know:
- The trajectory is aimed at increasing participation opportunities;
- The programme is supplementary to a participation or reintegration programme from UWV or a reintegration agency;
- The process is not aimed at filing an objection against the UWV and/or other legal disputes;
- The program does not provide medical treatment or medical support in the form of consultations with doctors or medical advisors;
- After six months the programme is completed and you can continue independently.
Sign up
Registration is no longer possible.
There is room for 80 people. Because more people have registered than there are places available, Q&A and C support will make a selection to ensure a balanced distribution of participants across target groups (post-COVID, Q fever, or symptoms after COVID-19 vaccination). If necessary, a lottery will be held within a target group. Registered participants will be notified on February 27th whether they can participate. Participation runs from March through August 2026.
Note: There are no costs associated with participating. However, we do ask that you complete the entire program. Keep in mind that the program does require some effort:
- Completing two questionnaires (2 x 15 minutes);
- Every two weeks a meeting with the case manager (45 – 60 minutes);
- Keeping agreements to achieve your goals.
Do you have any questions about Stap Vooruit? Send an email to stepforward@c-support.nu
Evaluation and advice
Stap Vooruit administers two questionnaires to participants. This is necessary to gain a clear understanding of your situation and to identify areas for improvement. We also use the questionnaires to analyze the impact of the intensive support. This allows us to understand the interventions that lead to particularly good results. For this purpose, your data will be anonymized so that your answers cannot be traced back to you.
We are evaluating the process with professionals from the healthcare and welfare sector and patient organizations. Based on the results and insights gathered, we will make recommendations to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment for optimizing participation and reintegration programs and determining the added value of deploying a case manager.
You can read more about the processing of your data in the consent declaration and privacy statement.
Background and financing
The project is funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. It was prompted by the Van Weyenberg amendment, which called for attention to people who are unable to work years after the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation also applies to people with other post-infectious conditions. Through intensive, personalized support, we are assessing whether reintegration into society improves.
