Work rehabilitation. Instrument development and women's perceptions of an intervention

The overall aim of this thesis was to contribute to the development of new instruments for use in work rehabilitation contexts and to investigate whether clients’ perceptions of their work environment changed while participating in a work rehabilitation programme, as well as how they perceived the programme. The work rehabilitation in focus was the Redesigning Daily Occupations (ReDO) programme. This is a new work rehabilitation programme for women on sick leave due to stress-related disorders, which was implemented in the primary health care services. The instruments developed and evaluated were the Worker Role Self-assessment (WRS) and the Work Environment Impact Scale – Self Rating (WEIS-SR). The WRS was evaluated in pain rehabilitation clinics (Study I), while the WEIS-SR was investigated in primary health care (Study II). Both instruments showed good psychometric properties, but further development and evaluations are needed. The WEIS-SR was then used in the ReDO programme in order to investigate whether the women’s perceptions of their work environment had changed after completed rehabilitation or at follow-ups 6 and 12 months after, as compared to their initial ratings (Study III). The result showed that the women rated their work environment as better after having completed the programme and at the follow-ups. In Study IV some women in the ReDO programme were interviewed regarding their perceptions and experiences from participating in the ReDO. The analyses of the interviews showed that the women were satisfied and thought the programme had suited their needs for rehabilitation. They highlighted a process of self-analysis that resulted in person-related changes and described the importance of the support they had received during the process and during their return to work. This thesis has contributed to the development of instruments and a qualitative evaluation of the ReDO based on the clients’ perspectives