Exploring return to work barriers through the lens of model of human occupation. The NOW WHAT project

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the participants.

Education level	N-participants
Primary/lower secondary school	4
Upper secondary/High school	32
University/college ≥4 years	31
University/college 5< years	18
Area of living
Urban	61
Rural	24
Employment sector
Public sector	30
Private sector	47
Private sector, with public duties	7
Missing info	1
Industry
Human health and social work activities	18
Mining and quarrying	18
Education	13
Transportation and storage	6
Wholesale and retail trade	6
Construction	4
Information and communication	3
Manufacturing	3
Administrative and support service activities	3
Financial and insurance activities	2
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	1
Electricity; gas, steam and air conditioning supply	1
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities	1
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	1
Professional, scientific and technical activities	1
Not elsewhere classified	1
Missing info	3

Table 2. The participants initial sick leave diagnosis.

Sick leave diagnosis classified by ICPC-2 Disease classification	N-participants
General and unspecified	10
Blood, blood forming organs and immune mechanism	1
Digestive	0
Eye	0
Ear	1
Cardiovascular	6
Musculoskeletal	23
Neurological	8
Psychological	24
Respiratory	1
Skin	0
Endocrine/metabolic and nutritional	3
Urological	1
Pregnancy, childbearing, family planning	0
Female genital	3
Male genital	0
Social problems	2

Table 3. The process of deductive content analysis.

Meaning unit	MOHO – main category (deductive)	Name of subcategory (inductive)
“I have difficulties walking (…)”	Person specific concepts →Performance capacity →→Motor skills	Walking and standing
“So… So, my disease makes my memory very impaired”	Person specific concepts →Performance capacity →→Process skills	Memory
“It’s my vision. My eyesight, which is my main barrier”	Person specific concepts →Performance capacity →→Communication and interaction skills	Eyesight
“I need to take painkillers (…)”	Person specific concepts →Habituation →→Habits	Routine medication
“For someone my age, I struggle to keep up, you know”	Person specific concepts →Volition →→Sense of capacity	Sense of capacity: Age
“My ageing parents are ill, (…) and caring for them”	Environmental components →Social Environment →→Social relationships	Care burden (outside of work)
“The social insurance systems structure and inability to see the individual and accommodate the individual”	Environmental components →Occupational environment →→Health and welfare systems	Social insurance
“Yes, it’s the layout of the vehicle. The design of the vehicle, it’s so constrained”	Environmental components →Physical environment →→Room	Physical spaces at work

Table 4. Overview of the results of RTW barriers.

MOHO concepts and components	N- coded units describing barriers	% of total units describing barriers
Person specific concepts	534	60
→Volition	165	18,5
→Habitation	66	7,5
→Performance capacity	303	34
Environmental components	361	40
Physical environment	59	6
Social environment	88	10
Occupational environment	214	24
Total number of coded units	895	100

Table 5. Overview of the results from the quantitative content analysis: person specific concepts.

Person specific components	Units per system (% of total)	N-units per main concepts	N-units per subcategory
Volitional system	165 (31)
^#Values		35
^#Personal causation:		119
Self-efficacy			28
Sense of capacity: general			28
Sense of capacity: age-related			13
Sense of capacity: chronic disease			25
Sense of capacity: recovery			25
^#Interests		11
Habituational system	66 (12)
^#Habits:		52
Rest and sleep			24
Routine medication			6
Work			5
Stress			9
Habits general/other			7
^#Internalised roles		14
Role loss and role-lessness			8
Worker role			6
Performance capacity system	303 (57)
^#Motor skills:		67
Walking and standing			32
Physical strength and perseverance			13
Upper extremities			14
Back, neck and torso			8
^#Process skills		45
Concentration			13
Memory			10
Mental energy			6
Orientation in time and space			2
Other			14
^#Communication and interaction skills:		9
Vision			4
Hearing			3
Verbal and non-verbal communication			2
^#Subjective experience of performance capacity:		154
Lack of energy or fatigue			64
Pain			31
Poor health			55
Other			4
^#Occupational performance in ADL		28
Total	534 (100)	544	470

Primary system within person specific concepts displayed in bold with total number units and percentage of total units in brackets. ^#Refers to a main concept, deductively derived from MOHO. Inductively named subcategories in plain text, no superscript.

Table 6. Overview of the results from the quantitative content analysis: Environmental components.

Environmental components	Units per system (% of total)	N-units per main concepts	N-units per subcategory
Social environment	88 (24,4)
^#Social interactions		6
High social demands			2
Low/No social demands			4
^#Social relationships:		82
Harassment, bullying, conflict			28
Careburden (outside of work)			28
Supervisor relationship and/or leadership			25
Social work environment unspecified			1
Physical environment	59 (16,3)	59
Space, room			12
Working conditions with few possibilities for sitting or resting			22
Modifications of work and equipment			25
Occupational environment	214 (59,3)
^#Work		109
Presence of adequate occupations			17
Work demands			48
Work hours and time requirement’s			27
Work transitions and reorganising			17
^#Health and welfare services		86
The organisation and availability of the social insurance			40
The availability and access to medical treatment			22
Clinical treatment (cooperation with professional)			24
^#Transportation (timing, schedule, system)		10
^#Political and societal environment		9
Total	361 (100)	361	342

Primary system within environmental components displayed in bold with total number units and percentage of total units in brackets. ^#Refers to a main component deductively derived from MOHO. Inductively named subcategories in plain text, no superscript.