Abstract
Objective: The purpose was to explore and describe the everyday life experiences among people with a disability pension and their expectations for future occupational life.
Participants: A purposeful sample of 14 men and women were interviewed. Of these, ten people received full-time disability pension and four people were on partial disability pension while working part time.
Methods and Results: A content analysis approach revealed three themes: strategies for handling a changed life situation, adaptations to remaining functional capacity, and expectations on future occupational life. Initially, leaving the work market entailed a period of emotional discomfort. To help handle this discomfort, structures for participation and performance came to signify a balanced everyday life.
Conclusions: The central conclusion drawn is that the informants with full-time disability pension reconciled themselves to their situation, changing their conception of what life on a disability pension means, while those informants who worked part-time saw their future role as that of worker. Thus, being employed constitutes one factor that promotes a future work career. Another factor related to work capacity is the need for balance between paid work and domestic work reported by disability pensioners working part-time. This area could serve as a point of departure for work rehabilitation.
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