Abstract
ObjectiveThe purpose of the present study was to explore various stakeholder perspectives regarding factors that impede return-to-work (RTW) after long-term sickness absence related to major depressive disorder (MDD).MethodsConcept mapping was used to explore employees', supervisors' and occupational physicians' perspectives on these impeding factors.ResultsNine perceived themes, grouped in three meta-clusters were found that might impede RTW: Person, (personality / coping problems, symptoms of depression and comorbid (health) problems, employee feels misunderstood, and resuming work too soon), Work (troublesome work situation, too little support at work, and too little guidance at work) and Healthcare (insufficient mental healthcare and insufficient care from occupational physician). All stakeholders regarded personality/coping problems and symptoms of depression as the most important impeding theme. In addition, supervisors emphasized the importance of mental healthcare underestimating the importance of the work environment, while occupational physicians stressed the importance of the lack of safety and support in the work environment.ConclusionsIn addition to the reduction of symptoms, more attention is needed on coping with depressive symptoms and personality problems in the work environment support in the work environment and for RTW in mental healthcare, to prevent long term sickness absence.
Highlights
Major Depressive disorder (MDD) is a major cause of long-term sickness absence (LTSA) [1,2,3,4,5,6], and permanent work disability [7,8,9,10]
Of the patients diagnosed with MDD about 21-37% will have a recurrent course within the first year while another 20% will not recover from MDD within two years [16,17] and are diagnosed as chronic depression
In our own study aiming to identify factors that predict long-term RTW in sick-listed employees with MDD, we found that in addition to health factors
Summary
Major Depressive disorder (MDD) is a major cause of long-term sickness absence (LTSA) [1,2,3,4,5,6], and permanent work disability [7,8,9,10]. Despite increasing efforts to help sick-listed employees with MDD to return-to-work (RTW), about 25% to 30% are still absent from work after one year [3,15]. One explanation of this prolonged sick leave duration may be the course of MDD over time. Of the patients diagnosed with MDD about 21-37% will have a recurrent course within the first year while another 20% will not recover from MDD within two years [16,17] and are diagnosed as chronic depression
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