Article

The main aim of this study was to describe the thoughts and feelings of
future working life related to return to work (RTW) in sick-listed persons due to
musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). Further aim was to compare these descriptions
with the person's actual working situation 1, 5 and 10 years after a
rehabilitation period. METHODS: This study consisted of two parts. The first part
had an explorative design, and qualitative content analysis was chosen in order
to analyse the response to an open question regarding future working life
answered before, persons sick-listed due to MSD (n = 320), took part in a
rehabilitation programme 10 years ago. The second part had a prospective design
and quantitative analysis was used to compare the results of the qualitative
analysis with RTW and the working situation 1, 5 and 10 years after baseline.
RESULTS: Three categories emerged from the data with a total of nine
subcategories. In the categories Motivation and optimism and Limitations to
overcome, there were significantly more persons who had RTW 1 year after baseline
when compared with the category Hindrance and hesitation. There were also some
significant differences between the subcategories. CONCLUSIONS: The question,
regarding thoughts and feelings of future working life, may be a simple screening
method to predict RTW in persons sick-listed with MSD. This will guide the
rehabilitation team to adjust the rehabilitation to each person's needs and
facilitating RTW.

Langue : ANGLAIS