Outcome of work rehabilitation for people with various disabilities and stability at a one-year follow-up

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether the outcome obtained at the end of a work rehabilitation programme for people with various disabilities were stable in a one-year perspective. An additional aim was to explore which factors influenced the outcome upon completion of work rehabilitation and at the one-year follow-up.

The study used information from a database and comprised 291 clients who had completed rehabilitation at least one year ago. Variables such as sociodemographic data, parameters describing the work rehabilitation period and work capacity upon completion of the programme and at the one-year follow-up were recorded. At the one-year follow-up, the clients also performed self-ratings that comprised three questions: perception of the ability to influence their own situation, the social support available from friends and family, and the need for support from society.

The younger clients were more likely to be working after the rehabilitation, but this was not the case at the follow-up. Gender, ethnic origin was not related to outcome directly after rehabilitation, but at the follow-up fewer women than expected were working and more clients than expected of a Scandinavian origin were working. Women rated their need of social support higher than men, and clients from outside Scandinavia perceived a lower ability to influence their own situation.

Gender, duration of sick leave, time spent in rehabilitation, and ethnic origin were variables that were of no importance for the outcome of rehabilitation but were of significance for the outcome at the one-year follow-up. These results demonstrate the necessity of not only studying the outcome directly after rehabilitation, but also the stability of results at in a follow-up perspective, since the individual's situation changes over time.