Abstract
PurposeTo examine whether experiences of positive respectful encounters and negative disrespectful encounters differ between sickness absentees with a cancer diagnosis and sickness absentees with other diagnoses, especially in relation to their ability to return to work (RTW).MethodsA total of 9032 long-term sickness absentees in Sweden responded to a questionnaire (response rate 52%) about experiences of positive and negative encounters with healthcare professionals. The association between different types of such encounters and participants feeling respected or disrespected were calculated with population attributable risk with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The perceived impact on ability to RTW was also examined.ResultsSignificantly, larger proportions among those who experienced a positive encounter and also felt respected stated that those encounters facilitated their ability to RTW, compared to those who experienced a positive encounter without feeling respected: among cancer absentees the difference in proportions were 21% (CI, 7–34) versus 50% (CI, 45–55); among absentees with other diagnoses 42% (CI, 37–47) versus 63% (CI, 61–64). Similar comparisons among sick-listed who experienced negative encounters indicated that also feeling disrespected impeded ability to RTW among a significantly larger proportion of those with other diagnoses [51% (CI, 48–54) versus 35% (CI, 31–39) of those not feeling disrespected]. Among cancer absentees, the corresponding proportions were 20% (CI, 9–30) versus 25% (CI, 9–41).ConclusionsCompared to sickness absentees with other diagnoses, a larger proportion of cancer sickness absentees stated that they were facilitated by respectful encounters and not impeded by disrespectful encounters, regarding self-estimated ability to RTW. More research is needed to examine whether these differences can be associated with use of a patient-centered encountering approach.
Highlights
Cancer diseases and treatments might influence patients’ health and well-being in different ways
Several studies indicate that experiences of respectful encounters with healthcare professionals may result in patients feeling strengthened and encouraged, both among cancer patients and others [7,8,9], and patients’ experiences of disrespectful or wrongful encounters may have negative consequences for their health and their trust in the healthcare system [9,10,11]
We suggest that patients with cancer diagnoses are not questioned, e.g., regarding their work incapacity, by the healthcare professionals, at least not to the same degree as patients with diagnoses that are more difficult to verify with objective methods
Summary
Cancer diseases and treatments might influence patients’ health and well-being in different ways. Previous studies have shown that encounters with healthcare staff may influence the self-estimated ability to RTW among long-term sickness absentees [13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. These studies indicate that patients’ experiences of positive encounters facilitate their perceived ability to RTW, a tendency that is significantly stronger if the encounter was perceived as respectful [13,14,15]. A respectful encounter may strengthen the patients’ self-confidence, which in turn may lead to a greater motivation to overcome difficulties on their way to RTW [14,15,16]
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