Respectful encounters from healthcare professionals and return to work among 9032 long-term sick-listed due to cancer or due to other diagnoses: results from a Swedish population-based survey

Abstract

Purpose To examine whether experiences of positive respectful encounters and negative disrespectful encounters differ between sickness absentees with a cancer diagnosis and sickness absentees with other diagnoses, especially in relation to their ability to return to work (RTW). Methods A total of 9032 long-term sickness absentees in Sweden responded to a questionnaire (response rate 52%) about experiences of positive and negative encounters with healthcare professionals. The association between different types of such encounters and participants feeling respected or disrespected were calculated with population attributable risk with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The perceived impact on ability to RTW was also examined. Results Significantly, larger proportions among those who experienced a positive encounter and also felt respected stated that those encounters facilitated their ability to RTW, compared to those who experienced a positive encounter without feeling respected: among cancer absentees the difference in proportions were 21% (CI, 7–34) versus 50% (CI, 45–55); among absentees with other diagnoses 42% (CI, 37–47) versus 63% (CI, 61–64). Similar comparisons among sick-listed who experienced negative encounters indicated that also feeling disrespected impeded ability to RTW among a significantly larger proportion of those with other diagnoses [51% (CI, 48–54) versus 35% (CI, 31–39) of those not feeling disrespected]. Among cancer absentees, the corresponding proportions were 20% (CI, 9–30) versus 25% (CI, 9–41). Conclusions Compared to sickness absentees with other diagnoses, a larger proportion of cancer sickness absentees stated that they were facilitated by respectful encounters and not impeded by disrespectful encounters, regarding self-estimated ability to RTW. More research is needed to examine whether these differences can be associated with use of a patient-centered encountering approach.

Self‐rated health over a two‐year period after breast cancer surgery: prospective ratings and retrospective rating by means of a health‐line

“…Person‐centredness as an emerging approach for healthcare underlines the individual experiences of each patient in the forefront of care (2). The importance of feeling respected and being listened to in the clinical encounter has been highlighted in several studies (9, 11) and has been shown to be of significant importance, for example, for returning to work after a cancer diagnosis (19). Likewise, healthcare professionals highlight the importance to capture and interpret each patient's symptoms and perceived health (20) but also that the narrative‐based care involves great efforts (8, 21).…”

“Can Someone as Young as You Really Feel That Much Pain?” – A Survey on How People With Fibromyalgia Experience Healthcare in Sweden

“…Due to the shortage of studies regarding experiences of encounters in healthcare of people suffering from fibromyalgia, we based an assumption from a population study in Sweden where 21% of the participants had negative experience of encounters in healthcare ( Månsson et al., 2019 ). We therefore estimated the frequency of negative experience to be 21%.…”