title: [Experts reports on the ability to work within the area of tension of medical and social problems].
abstract: On the basis of § 8 SGB II (Sozialgesetzbuch II), the local public health office of Bremen provides expert reports concerning the ability to work. The clients are district branches (job centres) of the Bremen employment office. The experts raised the question to what extent these expert reports were medically well-founded. Against this background, the expert reports were recorded and analysed for a period of 6 months. Socio-demographic characteristics, medical diagnoses and prognoses, experts' reports regarding the ability to work, as well as the medical justification of the reports were all taken into consideration. The sex ratio and ethnic profile of people included in the study were representative of welfare recipients in Bremen as a whole. Compared with the German population as a whole, the people examined had distinctly less education and professional training. Factors indicating social impacts were found more often among women. Medical diag-noses were strikingly different compared with data from the health insurance companies. More than two thirds of the people examined had considerable restrictions or were considered unable to work. More than four fifths of the expert reports could be justified for medical reasons. The life situations of the people examined were characterised by numerous problems which included medical, social and frequently also cultural aspects, and were taken into account in the experts' reports. In view of the inability to solve the existing social problems, the experts continue, from a medical perspective, to be concerned in this area of tension.
authors.affiliation: Gesundheitsamt Bremen.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jung
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005104:Expert Testimony; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012923:Social Class; D055815:Young Adult