Introduction: With the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, more health care services are offering support such as therapeutic patient education (TPE). By acquiring certain skills, the patient takes an active role in the day-to-day management of his/her disease. However, it may be difficult for these patients to continue working. So how do TPE providers handle occupational health issues in their education systems? Methods: This descriptive study examines the occupational health component of Ile-de-France TPE programmes for two conditions: chronic low back pain and adult asthma. Data were obtained from the CART'EP (R) website and via telephone interviews with eighteen TPE programme coordinators, conducted according to an interview guide Results: Analysis of the results, combining statistical and content analysis, shows that the approach to occupational health in terms of skills, content and TPE practices was different for these two conditions. Asthma TPE programmes tend to stress management of asthma attacks, avoidance of risky situations and knowledge of occupational trigger factors. Low back pain TPE programmes, on the other hand, prioritize continued employment as the main objective, and emphasize the use of adaptation behaviours (reducing fears and beliefs). Conclusion: As current educational formats largely neglect occupational health, occupational health physicians could possibly be enlisted to help make TPE programmes more effective in this domain.