How can a work rehabilitation process be improved?--a qualitative study from the perspective of social insurance officers.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to describe social insurance officers' experiences of a work rehabilitation process at a rehabilitation centre in the northern parts of Sweden. In Sweden the social insurance company has a key role to coordinate all efforts concerning work rehabilitation planning between all rehabilitation actors.


METHODS
Ten social insurance officers at the social insurance company in a city in northern Sweden were interviewed using a narrative approach about their experiences of work rehabilitation processes in general. The interviews were analysed by qualitative content analysis with a focus on their experiences of goals, content and results of a work rehabilitation process.


RESULTS
The social insurance officers' experiences of how a work rehabilitation process could be improved were described in six categories; (1) Early identification of problems, needs and interventions (2) clear goal formulations, (3) a focus on psychosocial factors (4) a greater variety of possible interventions, (5) activating employers to a higher extent in work rehabilitation and (6) a closer cooperation and information exchange with other rehabilitation actors.


CONCLUSIONS
It is possible to improve a work rehabilitation process by focusing on early identification of problems, needs and interventions, with a variety of interventions to choose between and with clear goal formulations and recognizing psychosocial factors in the process. To activate employers to a higher extent in work rehabilitation and to make the information exchange between rehabilitation actors more frequent may also improve work rehabilitation processes.
Gard
Gunvor
G
Department of Health Science, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden. Gunvor.Gard@hv.luth.se
Söderberg
Siv
S
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D012943:Social Security; D013548:Sweden