Women’s perceived work environment after stress-related rehabilitation: experiences from the ReDO project

Abstract

Women's perceived work environment after stress-related rehabilitation: experiences from the ReDO project.Wästberg, Birgitta; Erlandsson, Lena-Karin; Eklund, Mona Women's perceived work environment after stress-related rehabilitation: experiences from the ReDO project. Disability and Rehabilitation, 38(6), 528-534. DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1046567 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal AbstractPurpose: The study aimed to investigate a) if women's perceptions of their work environment changed during a 16-week rehabilitation period and at a 12-month follow-up; b) whether such changes were related to outcomes in terms of return to work, well-being and valued occupations.Methods: Eighty-four gainfully employed women on sick-leave due to stress-related disorders responded to instruments assessing perceptions of the work environment, well-being (selfesteem, self-mastery, quality of life, perceived stress, self-rated health) and perceived occupational value. Data about return to work were collected from registers. Non-parametric statistics were used.Results: The increase in the women's ratings of their work environment was non-significant between baseline and completed rehabilitation but was statistically significant between baseline and the 12-month follow-up. No relationships were found between changes in perceptions of the work environment and outcomes after the rehabilitation. At the follow-up, however, there were associations between perceived work environment changes in a positive direction and return to work; improved self-esteem, self-mastery, quality of life, perceived occupational value and self-rated health; and reduced stress.Conclusion: It seems important to consider the work environment in rehabilitation for stressrelated problems, and a follow-up appears warranted to detect changes and associations not visible immediately after rehabilitation.Perceptions of work environment 3 Implications for RehabilitationWork environment  Perceptions of the work environment seem important for return to work, although other factors are likely to contribute as well. Perceptions of the work environment are associated with several aspects of well-being. When developing rehabilitation interventions, a focus on the clients' perceptions of their work environment seems vital.

Employer Strategies for Preventing Mental Health Related Work Disability: A Scoping Review

“…• A variety of quasi-experimental designs were used in 12 studies, including prospective studies evaluating a nonrandomized two-group intervention (Karlson 2010;Martin 2013;Netterstrøm & Bech 2010;Nielsen 2002). Other studies used a matched-control (Eklund 2013), partial matched control group (Landstad 2001), or matched comparison (Grossi & Santell 2009;Wästberg 2016;Wåhlin 2012). The quasi-experimental studies included follow-up periods between six months and two years.…”

“…Five groups of outcome measures were identified across the included quantitative studies: (Peterson 2008a), and/or psychosocial work demands (Tveito & Eriksen 2009, Vinberg & Landstad 2014, job satisfaction (Borritz 2006;Nielsen 2002Nielsen , 2007, perceived change in work conditions (Andersen & Westgaard 2013;Nielsen 2007;Peterson 2008a;Wästberg 2016), social support (Heijbel 2005), quality of contact , and type of intervention received (Heijbel 2005). 5.…”

“…Several studies focused on some form of stress management training (Eriksen 2002;Grossi & Santell 2009;Tveito & Eriksen 2009;Wästberg 2016). The training sessions included different components.…”

“…Others included training related to coping with job demands or dealing with the workers own mental health problems, and stress factors or a combination of both (Tveito & Eriksen 2009). Others focused om awareness training through group-based discussions about everyday work situations and constraints related to perceived psychosocial work demands (Wästberg 2016), or CBT applied in a way that focus on managing CMDs as they relate to work situations (work coping) (Reme 2015). Use of problem-focused strategies was helpful for workers in aiming to redefine and tackle stress-full situations (Eriksen 2002).…”

“…2. The second group of outcomes include subjective health measures, such as subjective health complaints(Eriksen 2002;Tveito & Eriksen 2009), self-rated symptom levels and health(Anderzen & Arnetz 2005;Grossi & Santell 2009;Netterstrøm 2013;Nielsen 2002;Wästberg 2016), perceived job stress(Eriksen 2002;Nielsen 2002Nielsen , 2007Wästberg 2016), personal coping(Tveito & Eriksen 2009), perceived change in mental health and well-being(Peterson 2008a; Reme 2015), self-assessed functioning and work ability (Ahlstrom 2013; Wåhlin 2012), and perceived changes in health-related quality of life (Reme 2015; Wästberg 2016). 3.…”