Do work- and home-related demands and resources differ between women and men during return-to-work? A focus group study among employees with common mental disorders

Abstract

Background Common mental disorders present the main reason for registered sick leave in Sweden today, and women are at a higher risk of such sick leave than men. The aim of our study was to explore how the experiences of work- and home-related demands as well as resources influence return-to-work among employees sick-listed for common mental disorders in Sweden. Specifically, we aimed to explore similarities and differences in patterns of experiences among women and men. Methods A qualitative design with semi-structured focus group interviews was applied. One pilot interview and six additional focus groups, with a total of 28 participants, were conducted. The focus group discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Data was analyzed with conventional content analysis. Results The analysis resulted in four main categories and eight sub-categories. While the study aim was to explore aspects of work and home, additional considerations related to internal demands and involved actors were also found. The main and sub-categories were “Home-related demands and resources” (sub-categories: “Not on sick leave for home-related demands”, “Feeling responsible for relationships and the well-being of others”, “An affected economy” and “Finding energizing activities and creating routines”), “Work-related demands and resources” (sub-categories: “Encountering tough emotions and an over-bearing feeling of responsibility at work”, “Continued work-related demands create un-certainty about the future”, “Loss of boundaries” and “(Desired) support from managers and colleagues”), “Internal demands and resources” and “Demands and resources linked to involved actors”. The experiences described among women and men were similar in some categories while patterns of experiences differed in others. Conclusions Home-related demands and resources influence return-to-work among women and men sick-listed for common mental disorders in Sweden, also when work-related demands are experienced as the main reason for the sick leave period. Furthermore, several of these aspects were described differently among women and men, which highlights the need to consider possible gender differences in relation to return-to-work, while maintaining attention to individual variations.

Experiences of interventions and rehabilitation activities in connection with return-to-work from a gender perspective. A focus group study among employees on sick leave for common mental disorders

“…The methods section follows the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research [ 27 ]. This section is similar to that reported in another manuscript with a distinct but intersecting aim [ 28 ], as they belong to the same core project (see below). Furthermore, an abbreviated version of the results of this study have been published by the project’s funder in a report written in Swedish [ 29 ].…”

“…A qualitative design with purposive data sampling was applied with semi-structured focus group interviews [ 30 ]. The interviews and interview guide were designed to answer two distinct but intersecting aims, of which the first (on the experiences of demands and resources during RTW) is presented in a separate article [ 28 ] and the other (on the experiences of interventions and rehabilitation activities) in the current paper.…”

“…The moderator explained the choice of method, urged the participants to address each other and made sure that everyone could take part in the discussion. The interview guide included areas that corresponded to the aims of the current and the previous study referred to above [ 28 ], such as “Experiences of interventions and their effects”, “Combined demands at home and at work, and how it affects RTW” and “Have the experiences been affected by being a man or a woman”. The interview guide was developed to answer the aims of these studies (see the S1 File for a full account of the included areas and questions).…”

“…“in your experience, did the intervention help you to return to work?”) and probes (e.g. “how about the rest of you, did you experience this similarly or differently?”) were used [ 28 ]. The interviews took place at an OHS and a research institute in two different cities in Sweden between June 2017 and March 2018.…”

Work and everyday life in a digitalized time: Experiences of people with subjective cognitive difficulties related to neurological disorders

“…Also, due to ethical reasons it was only possible to link diagnosis groups (of all background data) to the cases to ensure the confidentiality of the participants. With respect to the borderless everyday life and the knowledge that gender influence both work- and home-related demands as well as work related health [ 53 ], gender can be of particular interest to consider in future research of the digitalised working life. Moreover, as depression is frequent in the studied sample [ 54 ] and can influence cognition [ 55 ], this is an additional factor that can be considered in relation to cognition in future research.…”