Affiliations: Department of Social Medicine, Maastricht University,
Maastricht, The Netherlands | Department of Work and Organisational Psychology,
Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Note: [] Corresponding author: Nicole Hoefsmit, Department of Social
Medicine, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The
Netherlands. Tel.: +31 433 888 1709; E-mail: [email protected]
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 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.
Keywords: Sickness absence, return-to-work, qualitative study
