Title
What makes men and women with musculoskeletal complaints decide they are too sick to work?
Author
TNO Kwaliteit van Leven
Hooftman, W.E.
Westerman, M.J.
van der Beek, A.J.
Bongers, P.M.
van Mechelen, W.
Publication year
2008
Abstract
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine what makes men and women with musculoskeletal complaints decide to call in sick for work. Methods: Qualitative, face-to-face interviews were used with employees (16 men and 14 women) who had called in sick due to a musculoskeletal complaint and who expected to be absent from work for at least 2 weeks on sick leave. Results: The participants fell into the following two main groups: those who were off sick because of a diagnosed medical condition, such as a fracture, and those who were off sick because of an unidentifiable complaint, such as low-back pain. Employees in the former group called in sick because they were in the hospital or because they reckoned that their condition was too serious to warrant a continuation of work. Employees in the latter group felt hesitant and insecure and found it hard to judge whether absenteeism was justified. They decided either to "play it safe" and stay off work to prevent the complaints from worsening or to seek advice from medical professionals. Their advice did not include explicit instructions to stay at home, but were usually interpreted as such. Finally, women, but not men, were likely to call in sick if they felt that their home situation was being negatively affected by attempts to keep working while suffering physical complaints. Conclusions: The decision to call in sick is not taken lightly. Employees with nonspecific disorders base their decision on several factors, including advice from medical professionals. A factor found only among women was work-home interference. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Subject
Healthy Living
Healthy for Life
Veilig en Gezond Werken
Absenteeism
Back
Gender
Neck
Upper extremity
Body condition
Employment
Health status
Qualitative analysis
Clinical article
Controlled study
Decision making
Employee
Fracture
Health practitioner
Hospital
Interview
Low back pain
Medical leave
Musculoskeletal disease
Work resumption
Adult
Decision Making
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Musculoskeletal Diseases
Netherlands
Occupational Diseases
Qualitative Research
Sex Factors
Sick Leave
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4a785250-5551-4830-9672-f74da7e1b608
TNO identifier
240724
ISSN
0355-3140
Source
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 34 (34), 107-112
Document type
article