Return-to-work processes involve many stakeholders who need to cooperate to best support the person on sick leave. Yet, there is little knowledge of how workers sick listed due to back pain experience navigating between stakeholders.
OBJECTIVE:
This study aimed to explore how Danish workers on sick leave due to back pain experience navigating between the involved stakeholders, focusing on settings related to social work, health care and workplace.
METHODS:
Sixteen individual semi-structured interviews were conducted and data analysed using a thematic analysis approach.
RESULTS:
Analysis resulted in three themes. 1) ‘Meeting the system’ where establishing a positive relationship with the social worker was hampered by a negative perception of the job centre. This perception was initiated by the convening letter and accentuated by physical meetings being experienced as a waste of time. 2) In ‘Navigating between systems’ some participants lacked support from professionals to navigate the role as messenger between the job centre and health care system. 3) In ‘The workplace–a familiar arena’ workers experience the workplace as a familiar arena, even if negative decisions were made. Analysis additionally revealed that patients’ return-to-work processes could be divided into two types, namely complex and smooth.
CONCLUSION:
The initial contact from the job centre seems pivotal for the following return-to-work process. The main challenges experienced by sick listed workers were related to the job centre and to being a messenger between job centre and health care, not to their workplace and the decisions made there.
LoiselP, AnemaJ. Handbook of Work Disability: Prevention and Management. 1st ed. New York: Springer; 2013.
2.
MacEachenE, ClarkeJ, FrancheRL, IrvinE, Workplace-based Return to Work Literature Review G. Systematic review of the qualitative literature on return to work after injury. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2006;32(4):257–69.
3.
PetersenL, BirkelundR, Schiøttz-ChristensenB. Experiences and challenges to cross-sectoral care reported by patients with low back pain. A qualitative interview study. BMC Health Services Research. 2020;20, 96.
4.
PetersenL, BirkelundR, Schiøttz-ChristensenB. Challenges to cross-sectoral care experienced by professionals working with patients living with low back pain: a qualitative interview study. BMC Health Services Research. 2020;20.
5.
SnelgroveS, LiossiC. Living with chronic low back pain: a metasynthesis of qualitative ressearch. Chronic Illness. 2013;9(4):283–301.
6.
LännerströmLW,T, HolmströmI.K.. Losing independence -the lived experience of being long-term sick-listed. BMC Public Health. 2013;13:725.
7.
RossenCB, HøybyeMT, JørgensenLB, BruunLD, HybholtL. Disrupted everyday life in the trajectory of low back pain: A longitudinal qualitative study of the cross-sectorial pathways of individuals with low back pain over time. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances. 2021;3.
8.
SnelgroveS, EdwardsS, LiossiC. A longitudinal study of patients’ experiences of chronic low back pain using interpretative phenomenological analysis: changes and consistencies. Psychology & Health. 2013;28(2):121–38.
9.
ChouL, CicuttiniFM, UrquhartDM, AnthonySN, SullivanK, SeneviwickramaM, et al.
People with low back pain perceive needs for non-biomedical services in workplace, financial, social and household domains: a systematic review. Journal of Physiotherapy. 2018;64(2):74–83.
10.
LännerströmL, WallmannT, HolmströmIK. Losing independence – the lived experience ofbeing long-term sick-listed. BMC Public Health. 2013;13:745.
11.
SoklaridisS, AmmendoliaC, CassidyD. Looking upstream to understand low back pain and return to work: psychosocial factors as the product of system issues. Soc Sci Med. 2010;71(9):1557–66.
12.
BarilR, ClarkeJ, FriesenM, StockS, ColeD, Work-ReadyG. Management of return-to-work programs for workers with musculoskeletal disorders: a qualitative study in three Canadian provinces. Soc Sci Med. 2003;57(11):2101–14.
13.
Flachs EM, Eriksen L, Koch MB. Sygdomsbyrden i Danmark - Sygdomme. København: Sundhedsstyrelsen; 2015. Contract No.: Report.
14.
Koch MB, Davidsen M, Juel K. De Samfundsmomkostninger ved rygsygdomme og rygsmerter i Danmark. København: Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, Syddansk Universitet; 2011. Contract No.: Report.
15.
Finansministeriet. Sammen med borgeren -en helhedsorienteret indsats. pdf> 2018.
16.
Sundhedsstyrelsen. Helhedsorienterede beskæftigelsesindsatser med fokus på sundhed. pdf>. 2019.
17.
TongA, SainsburyP, CraigJ. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. International Journal for Quality in Health Care. 2007;19(6):349–57.
18.
MalterudK, SiersmaVD, GuassoraAD. Sample Size in Qualitative Interview Studies: Guided by Information Power. Qualitative Health Research. 2016;26(13):1753.
19.
World Medical Association. Declaration of Helsinki ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects (1). pdf>. 2013.
20.
BraunV, ClarkeV. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology. 2006;3(2):77.
21.
BraunV, ClarkeV. Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health. 2019;11(4):589–97.
22.
BraunV, ClarkeV, HayfieldN, TerryG. Thematic Analysis. Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences. 2019. pp.843–60.
23.
QSR International NVivo 12. 2018.
24.
ThorneS. On the use and abuse of verbatim quotations in qualitative research reports. Nurse Author & Editor. 2020;30(3):4–6.
25.
BordinES. The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Pratice. 1979;16(3):252–60.
26.
RavnR, BredgaardT. Relationships Matter-The Impact of Working Alliances in Employment Services. Social Policy and Society. 2021;20(3):418–35.
27.
PasanenJ. The nature of positive encounters between disabled workers and insurers in the return to work process. Work. 2021;70(1):287–300.
28.
LindahlM, HvalsoeB, JRP, LangbergH. Quality in rehabilitation after a working age person has sustained a fracture: Partnership contributes to continuity. Work. 2013;44:177–89.
29.
LynöeN, WesselM, OlssonD, AlexandersonK, HelgessonG. Does feeling respected influence return to work? Cross-sectional study on sick-listed patients’ experiences of encounters with social insurance office staff. BMC Public Health. 2013;13.
30.
MüssenerUS. U; SöderbergE. Does the quality of encounters affect return to work? Lay people describe their experiences of meeting various professionals during their rehabilitation process. Work. 2015;52, 447–55.
31.
SchultzR, KousgaardM, DavidsenA. “We have two different agendas": the view of general practitioners, social workers and hospital staff on interprofessional coordination for patients with chronic widespread pain. Journal of Interprfessional Care. 2021;35(2):284–92.
32.
Mik-MeyerN. Den forstående læge og evidenssøgendesocialrådgiver: Rollebytte i dagens velfærdsstat. In:JärvinenMM-M, N, editor. At skabe en professionel -ansvar ogautonomi i velfærdsstaten. 1. ed København: Hans Reitzels Forlag; 2012.
33.
RyanCG, LauchlanD, RooneyL, MartinsCH, GrayH. Returning to work after long term sickness absence due to low back pain - the struggle within: A qualitative study of the patient’s experience. Work. 2014;49:433–44.
34.
FalkdalA, EdlundC, DahlgrenL. Experiences within the process of sick leave. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2006;13(3):170–82.
35.
ScheermesserM, BachmannS, SchämannA, OeschP, KoolJ. A qualitative study on the role of cultural background in patients’ perspectives on rehabilitation. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2012;13(5).
36.
NovickG. Is there a bias against telephone interviews in qualitative research?Research in Nursing & Health. 2008;31(4):391–8.
37.
ThurmondV. The Point of Triangulation. Journal of Nursing Scholarshi. 2001;33(3):253–8.
