Desire, longing and vanity: Emotions behind successful return to work for women on long-term sick leave

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to identify situations and phenomena that have simplified returning to work for women on long-term sick leave. Participants: Seven women who were exposed to a relatively large number of risk factors that normally are associated with difficulties in returning to work. Methods: In-depth interviews with qualitative content analysis. Results: The analysis indicated four main categories of factors: The Individual, Interactions, Surrounding Resources, and Situations. In each of the main categories structural factors exist and it appears that these have been of significant importance to the women in their return to work. These are presented as Key Factors and they are: clarification of -and the need for -support in the personal process of change; desire, longing, and vanity; respectful interactions between the individual and people in her surroundings; the structure and content of the rehabilitation clinic; the importance of the perceived reality; and the individual's sense of control during the work related rehabilitation process. Conclusions: The results mostly revealed phenomena that have been indicated and described in earlier research studies. However, emotions such as desire, longing and vanity as motivation and driving forces behind a return to work have not been earlier described.

Does feeling respected influence return to work? Cross-sectional study on sick-listed patients’ experiences of encounters with social insurance office staff

“…The positive effect of feeling respected on self-estimated ability to return to work was particularly manifested among patients with mental disorders. Our results are in line with previous findings that long-term sick-listed patients are sensitive to whether their encounters are respectful or not [9]. …”

“…From other studies it has been reported that female sick-listed patients have special preferences when it comes to rehabilitation and return to work [9]. On this backdrop it is interesting that we did not find any gender differences.…”

“…Long-term sickness absentees have themselves stated that their treatment by professionals from healthcare and social insurance was as important as the different rehabilitation measures [14,15]. For instance, respectful meetings have been reported to be of relevance for returning to work [9]. …”

“…We also found that when patients feel respected in addition to experiencing their encounters as positive, their self-estimated ability to return to work is significantly facilitated, whereas patients feeling wronged in addition to experiencing their encounters as negative, estimated that their ability to return to work was significantly impeded [17]. Even though self-estimated ability to return to work is not the same as actually returning to work, long-term sick-listed patients’ own beliefs on this matter is arguably an important predictor for return to work, in a similar vein as self-estimated health has been reported as the most valid predictor of a long life [9,18]. …”

Work ethics and societal norms influence sick leave and return to work: tales of transformation

“…A previous study investigating key factors for RTW in women with chronic pain found that their self-image, strength and desire to work were important. The study also supported the presence of a work ethic in the rehabilitation process [34]. However, they view work ethic as an individual factor, whereas we view it as a societal norm that sometimes causes individuals to stray from their personal goals.…”