Environmental and personal factors that support early return-to-work: A qualitative study using the ICF as a framework

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Occupational health professionals such as occupational physicians (OPs) increasingly understand that in addition to health improvement, environmental factors (such as work adaptations) and personal factors (such as an employee's attitude towards return-to-work (RTW)) may stimulate employees on sick leave to return to work early. To target their professional interventions more specifically according to these factors, occupational health professionals need further insight into environmental and personal factors that stimulate RTW. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study are (1) to identify which and how environmental and personal factors support early RTW, and (2) to examine whether the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) can be used to describe these factors. METHODS: We performed interviews with 14 employees, 15 employers and 4 OPs from multiple organisations with varying organisational sizes and types of industry such as healthcare and education. We used a qualitative data analysis partially based on the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven. RESULTS:The following environmental factors were found to support early RTW: 'social support from relatives', 'belief that work stimulates health', 'adequate cooperation between stakeholders in RTW' (e.g. employees, employers and OPs) and 'the employers' communicative skills'. One personal factor stimulated RTW: 'positive perception of the working situation' (e.g. enjoyment of work). Most factors stimulated RTW directly. In addition, adequate treatment and social support stimulated medical recovery. Environmental factors can either fully (social support, belief that RTW stimulates health), partially (effective cooperation), or not (employers' communicative skills) be described using ICF codes. The personal factor could not be classified because the ICF does not contain codes for personal factors. CONCLUSIONS: RTW interventions should aim at the environmental and personal factors mentioned above. Professionals can use the ICF to describe most environmental factors.

Returning to Work After Sick Leave – The Role of Work Demands and Resources, Self-Efficacy, and Social Support

“…Returning to work after sick leave is associated with different personal and environmental factors. Our study demonstrates that higher perceived levels self-efficacy, social support, and workload and autonomy are negatively associated with the duration of sick leave, consistent with previous studies (Amick et al, 2004;Lysaght and Larmour-Trode, 2008;Boštjančič and Koračin, 2014;Hoefsmit et al, 2014;Volker et al, 2015;Lork and Holmgren, 2018). The results further indicate that there is an association between the duration of sick leave and employees' work satisfaction after returning to work.…”

“…The results further indicate that there is an association between the duration of sick leave and employees' work satisfaction after returning to work. Our findings were mostly consistent with previous research (e.g., Amick et al, 2004;Dionne et al, 2007;Lysaght and Larmour-Trode, 2008;Boštjančič and Koračin, 2014;Hoefsmit et al, 2014), except as regards perceived workload (Haveraaen et al, 2016), where our hypothesis was not supported. Previous research indicates that a high perceived workload results in more prolonged sick leave (Haveraaen et al, 2016), but our results showed that the male participants perceived their workloads as higher following a shorter sick leave compared to a longer sick leave, which could be explained by those returning after a longer sick leave being exposed to less demands at work.…”

“…Having social support from one's family can help in coping with health concerns. Furthermore, cooperation between various stakeholders in the return to work process -employees, employer, health professionals, etc., -has been proven to have a positive effect on the whole process (Dionne et al, 2007;Hoefsmit et al, 2014). Hoefsmit et al (2014) found social support from relatives to be one of the environmental factors affecting the process, wherefore it, i.e., social support, can be beneficial and can aid the process of returning to work.…”

“…Furthermore, cooperation between various stakeholders in the return to work process -employees, employer, health professionals, etc., -has been proven to have a positive effect on the whole process (Dionne et al, 2007;Hoefsmit et al, 2014). Hoefsmit et al (2014) found social support from relatives to be one of the environmental factors affecting the process, wherefore it, i.e., social support, can be beneficial and can aid the process of returning to work. Their research also showed that a lack of cooperation between employees, HR professionals, and supervisors, curative professionals and others, can also result in the prolongation of sick leave (Hoefsmit et al, 2014).…”

“…Hoefsmit et al (2014) found social support from relatives to be one of the environmental factors affecting the process, wherefore it, i.e., social support, can be beneficial and can aid the process of returning to work. Their research also showed that a lack of cooperation between employees, HR professionals, and supervisors, curative professionals and others, can also result in the prolongation of sick leave (Hoefsmit et al, 2014). Social support is also vital for those employees returning to work after suffering from burnout syndrome.…”