The aim of the present study was to analyse previous sickness presence among long‐term sick‐listed individuals in Norway and Sweden and the reasons given for sickness presence. The study was based on survey data for 3,312 persons in Norway and Sweden who had been sick‐listed for at least 30 days. Two questions were used. One measured prevalence: During the last 12 months prior to your current sick leave, did you go to work even when feeling so ill that you should have taken sick leave? The second question concerned reasons for sickness presence. Large differences were found between Norway and Sweden in the prevalence of sickness presence. More long‐term sick‐listed Norwegians than Swedes reported sickness presence [adjusted odds ratio (OR) for Sweden 0.65 (0.53–0.80)]. The Swedes more often reported financial reasons for sickness presence [adjusted OR 2.77 (2.1 to −3.54)], while the Norwegians more often gave positive reasons related to work. The national differences may be related to differences in sickness insurance strategies.

Background: In Norway men's sickness absence from work has been stable or reduced over the last decades while women's sickness-absence ratio has increased, but the reasons for these developments are complex and unclear. There have been considerable efforts introduced and implemented to reduce sickness absence, but they have not succeeded. One reason for this may be the insufficient knowledge about the reasons for sick leave, and especially for women's sick leave. The aim: This article aims to examine how social factors influence sickness absence and how long-term absentees interpret and explain their ill health and sickness absence. Method: In one Norwegian county in 2010 we performed individual in-depth interviews with 20 women and ten men between the ages of 25-60 years who had been or were sick-listed for more than 30 days during the last year with a mental illness or musculoskeletal diagnoses. Results: The study illustrates how social factors influence sickness absence in different ways. The women indicated complex causes for their sickness absence, and often described an interaction between work-related and domestic-related aspects. Some accounts illustrate that their ill health might have roots in life occurrences from childhood and adolescence that have made them vulnerable to domestic and work-related strains during their adult years. The study also indicates that women, especially single mothers, seem to be especially vulnerable to domestic strains, and that these strains may lead to a paradoxical pattern of women's sick leave: they take sick leave in order to deal with domestic strains along with the intention of prolonging their presence at the workplace in the longer term. Thus, these periods of sickness absence appear to be a necessary accompaniment of a high rate of participation among vulnerable groups in the labour market. Conclusion: Women's ill health and sickness absence should be understood as a manifestation of an interplay of the strains found at both the workplace and the home. A successful effort to reduce sickness absence in Norway, therefore, requires a holistic perspective that accounts for both the work and the domestic spheres.

Purpose -This paper aims to offer an analysis of the conflicting values behind Norway's much celebrated inclusive working life (IWL) programme, which aims to reduce sickness absenteeism, to increase the average age of retirement, and to hire functionally challenged persons. This article, moreover, presents sorely needed qualitative data from a preliminary study on IWL that shows how state-owned enterprises have struggled to cope with the conflicting goals. Design/methodology/approach -This is a qualitative study based on interviews with regional managers and representatives of the unions who had to adapt to IWL, and the results suggest possible explanations behind the disappointing numbers found by other quantitative studies on IWL. Findings -Because of the decision to implement IWL, regional managers are caught in the middle of two different ideologies, namely, neo-liberalism or new public management (NPM) and the welfarestate ideology, and they find themselves making choices according to the former. This study on state enterprises at the local level has found that managers and union representatives appeared to support the intentions behind the programme, but they clearly prioritized productivity and efficiency over inclusiveness.Research limitations/implications -As the results are from a preliminary qualitative study of IWL that only included state enterprises, there is a need for further research that also includes the private enterprises.Practical implications -This study finds that IWL is ineffective because it cannot harmonize the NPM and the welfare-state ideologies. Originality/value -This article helps to remedy the lack of qualitative documentation on the progress of IWL. These results also question the prevailing optimism over the potential of IWL by pointing to the ideological tensions between welfare and efficiency.

Background: The reduction of the number of people that drop out of the labour force and temporarily receive public benefits has increasingly been a political priority in Norway since the early 1990s. In particular, there has been a focus on reducing sick leave. However, none of the efforts in this direction has had the desired effects. To succeed, more knowledge is needed regarding the factors that create the illnesses influencing the length of the sickness leave.Aim: The purpose of this article is to study how relational social capital, both at work and home, has an impact on the experience of being on long-term sick leave and the process of returning to work.Methods: Individual in-depth interviews have been performed with 20 women between 25 and 60 years old. They were all sick-listed for more than 30 days during 2013 with mental illness or musculoskeletal diagnoses.Results: The study illustrates how long-term sickness absence can threaten the identity and self-confidence of the sick-listed persons. The effects of relational social capital are expressed through personal relationships with their family members, friends, colleagues, and managers at their workplace. Individuals with high social capital in both the workplace and the domestic sphere have the best prospects for recovering and returning to work. High workplace capital may, to a certain degree, compensate for low domestic social capital. Single mothers with low social capital both in their domestic life and in their workplace are the most vulnerable. 93Conclusion: Relational social capital influences both the experience of being on sick leave and the process of returning to work. The efforts to reduce sickness leave should therefore focus on not only the sick-listed person, but also their relationships with their family and in their workplace, as well as the interplay between these.

Arbeid er naert forbundet med identitet og bidrar til verdighet. I denne artikkelen undersøker vi hvordan et utvalg kvinner i universitets-og høgskolesektoren opplever siste fase av arbeidslivet, samhandlingen mellom arbeidstaker og naermeste leder, og kvinnenes ivaretakelse av egen verdighet. Studien viser at verdighet og identitet settes i spill og at kommunikasjon om den kommende overgangen er mangelfull. Kvinnene er usikre på om kompetansen de har, fortsatt blir verdsatt, og avslutningen av yrkeskarrieren blir et verdighetsprosjekt for den enkelte.