A comparison of perceived occupational gaps between people with stress-related ill health or musculoskeletal pain and a reference group.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and compare how occupational gaps were reported in everyday occupations in a rehabilitation group of people with musculoskeletal pain or stress-related ill health and in a reference group from the Swedish population.


METHODS
Seventy-two persons with musculoskeletal pain or stress-related ill health and 261 people from the Swedish population were included. The Occupational Gaps Questionnaire, measuring to what extent individuals perceive a discrepancy between what they want to do and what they actually do, was completed by the participants. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data.


RESULTS
Occupational gaps were reported more often in the rehabilitation group. Leisure activities were the gaps reported most often. The occupational repertoire seemed to decrease over time as the number of activities was decreasing, particularly leisure and work-related activities. Instrumental ADL were more desirable as the length of sick leave extended.


CONCLUSIONS
Being on sick leave appears to start a process towards occupational deprivation where the areas that remain in the occupational repertoire become more important. Our study highlights the need to emphasize the whole occupational repertoire in rehabilitation and to facilitate engagement in valued activities to create a sound base for the process of returning to work.
Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. therese.eriksson@ki.se
Therese
T
Eriksson
Hans
H
Jonsson
Kerstin
K
Tham
Gunilla
G
Eriksson
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059352:Musculoskeletal Pain / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D010465:Perception; D018582:Sick Leave; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D013997:Time Factors; D014937:Work; D055815:Young Adult