A comparison of perceived occupational gaps between people with stress-related ill health or musculoskeletal pain and a reference group

Abstract

Aim: 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. Method: 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.

Key words::

• activities of daily living
• occupational repertoire
• rehabilitation
• sick leave

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the team members at the rehabilitation clinic for their assistance with the data collection in this study. This study was financially supported by the Health Care Sciences Postgraduate School at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.