Prolonged sick leaves are a major risk to quit the world of work and depression is the leading cause of disability in France. New therapies from the third wave of CBT as the Commitment and Acceptance Therapy (ACT) may be interesting to promote the return to work (RTW).

To assess predictive factors of return to work after depression.

This is a descriptive, prospective and multicentric study. The recruitment of investigating doctors was conducted by the publication of an advertisement in a French journal of occupational medicine. Each investigator recruited patients during reinstatement medical examination after a prolonged sick leave for depressive syndrome. Sociodemographic, occupational, medical and psychological factors (particularly in connection with the ACT) was assessed at baseline and 3 months later.

Thirty-one patients were initially included in the study, but 2 were lost to follow up at 3 months and 29 were analyzed. Twenty three patients RTW at 3 months. Those who RTW were less anxious (P = 0.023), less depressed (P = 0.021), had a better impression of improvement (P = 0.0066) and had a lower score of experiential avoidance (P = 0.0025).

The ACT, through its action on the reduction of experiential avoidance, and the definitions of new life values could allow a faster RTW after a sick leave for depressive syndrome.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.