The Impact of Psychosocial Aspects as Risk Factors for Long-Term Illnesses in General Practice: Protocol for a...

Psychosocial risk factors increase the risk of long-term illnesses and prolonged return-to-work processes, with serious consequences for individuals as well as society. In general practice, psychosocial risk factors are captured comprehensively because general practitioners usually care for patients for years and know the patients' entire social environment. Numerous studies have been conducted on aspects of psychosocial risk factors. However, a comprehensive, unrestricted summary of psychosocial risk factors is currently lacking.

The present review aims to address this gap by providing an overview of psychosocial risk factors with relevance for Western and Western-oriented countries.

This scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the methodology outlined in the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis in a 3-stage search strategy. Searched databases were MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science. Each reference will be screened by 2 reviewers independently. The findings will be reported according to the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines.

A literature search conducted on September 8, 2025, resulted in 8515 articles after deduplication. Title and abstract screening started on September 10, 2025. It is estimated that screening will be completed in April 2026, followed by 2 to 3 months to complete data extraction and 1 to 2 months to draft the manuscript. The goal is to submit the scoping review manuscript in September 2026. We expect to identify various psychosocial aspects affecting long-term illnesses and return-to-work processes.

Psychosocial risk factors play an important role in the development of long-term illnesses and prolonged return-to-work processes as they are often not communicated by patients but may influence the severity, duration, and progression of long-term illnesses. Evidence-based knowledge about comprehensive psychosocial risk factors will increase awareness of psychosocial aspects among physicians treating patients with long-term illnesses. This will help identify multidisciplinary prevention strategies for patients with long-term illnesses and relieve return-to-work processes.