Affiliations: Department of Health Sciences, Division of
Occupational Therapy, Lund University, Sweden
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Eva Wallstedt-Paulsson, Department
of Health Sciences, Division of Occupational Therapy, P.O. Box 157, SE-221 00
Lund, Sweden. Tel.: +46 46 222 1966; Fax: +46 46 222 1959; E-mail:
eva.wallstedt-paulsson@med.lu.se
Abstract: The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether the
outcome obtained at the end of a work rehabilitation programme for people with
various disabilities were stable in a one-year perspective. An additional aim
was to explore which factors influenced the outcome upon completion of work
rehabilitation and at the one-year follow-up. The study used information from a database and comprised 291 clients
who had completed rehabilitation at least one year ago. Variables such as
sociodemographic data, parameters describing the work rehabilitation period and
work capacity upon completion of the programme and at the one-year follow-up
were recorded. At the one-year follow-up, the clients also performed
self-ratings that comprised three questions: perception of the ability to
influence their own situation, the social support available from friends and
family, and the need for support from society. The younger clients were more likely to be working after the
rehabilitation, but this was not the case at the follow-up. Gender, ethnic
origin was not related to outcome directly after rehabilitation, but at the
follow-up fewer women than expected were working and more clients than expected
of a Scandinavian origin were working. Women rated their need of social support
higher than men, and clients from outside Scandinavia perceived a lower ability
to influence their own situation. Gender, duration of sick leave, time spent in rehabilitation, and
ethnic origin were variables that were of no importance for the outcome of
rehabilitation but were of significance for the outcome at the one-year
follow-up. These results demonstrate the necessity of not only studying the
outcome directly after rehabilitation, but also the stability of results at in
a follow-up perspective, since the individual's situation changes over
time.
