Long-term sick workers experience of professional support for re-integration back to work

Abstract

In recent years researchers have tried to identify important factors that can explain re-integration to work for workers on long-term sick leave. The results indicate that multiple factors can explain whether or not people return to work. The aim of the study was to investigate long-term sick workers' experience of professional support for re-integration to work. Participants were drawn from the database of The National Social Insurance Board in Norway. A random sample was selected of persons with mental illness or musculoskeletal disorders (either p- or l-diagnosis/symptoms related to International Classification in Primary Care), who were in receipt of Rehabilitation allowance. The questionnaire was sent to 1 493 persons of whom 740 responded. The most significant finding is that work training/mastering actions were identified by the majority of the rehabilitation benefit recipients as being of slight or moderate use. This highlights the importance of work training/mastering actions being relevant in proportion to the specific situation the individual is presently within. Delays in waiting for treatment attributed to approximately half of the rehabilitation benefit recipient's problems returning to work. This study also highlights that rehabilitation benefit recipients experience loss of co-ordinated measures from those who are supposed to contribute to simplifying their return to work.