The experience of returning to work

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore from an environmental perspective the experiences of returning to work of former unemployed sickness absentees. Five separate focus-group interviews were carried out with themes concerning different environmental areas. The findings showed that the participants in their process of being off work and then attempting returning to work experienced a personal transition manifesting itself as a negative self-image, change of life-rhythm and restrictions in their roles and activities. In their progression, the participants experienced a need for reorientation and expressed feelings of alienation, and for that reason felt need of support from a network, especially a professional one. Regarding attitudes in society, the participants reported experiences of social stigmatization, both in mass media and in their immediate social environment, and an increasing egocentricity among their fellow-workers. They perceived their progression back to work as a 'time quarantine' and as a long and destructive wait for support. The findings indicate that the phenomenon of 'returning to work' after unemployment and sick leave could not be reduced to a single issue. It should rather be seen as a dynamic problem with individual and structural, environmental aspects.