Affiliations: The Rehabilitation Medicine University Clinic,
Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden | Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical
Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Division of Rehabilitation Medicine, Stockholm,
Sweden
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Monika Löfgren, The Division of
Rehabilitation Medicine, Building 39, third floor, Danderyd Hospital, 182 88
Stockholm, Sweden. Tel.: +46 8 655 78 13; E-mail: monika.lofgren@ki.se
Abstract: Objective: This study explored and analysed how patients experienced
possibilities for, and barriers to, work return after participation in a
multi-professional pain-rehabilitation program followed by a coached
work-training program (CWT). Participants: Eleven informants (8 women/3 men) with long-term
musculoskeletal pain who had participated in the CWT program for 4–21
months (mean=11) comprised the study. Methods: A qualitative emergent design was used. Data collected with
interviews were analysed using the constant comparison method of grounded
theory. Triangulation in researchers were used. Results: The analyses of the interviews resulted in the development
of a three-category theoretical model, which was named "a way back to work".
The main category "Experience of a way back to work" consisted of the
informants' experience during the process between unemployment and employment.
The category "Support" describes the help the informants received from various
actors, and the category "Negative response" describes negative responses from
the actors involved, which was an important barrier in the process between
unemployment and employment. Conclusion: Professional individualised support, participants
feeling involved in their rehabilitation process, coaching at real workplaces
and multi-professional team including health care personnel, were valuable
during the process towards work.
