Variation in views on clients in interprofessional work for vocational rehabilitation in Sweden

To deal with long-term sickness absence, inter-organizational and interprofessional projects for rehabilitation were established in Sweden in the late 1990s. This study explores the different views about the clients of such a project from the professionals of the organizations involved. Twenty-one key informants were interviewed in 1999 and 22 in 2002. The interviews were semi-structured and analysed with a phenomenographic approach. Four descriptive categories emerged: (A) the individual as consisting of components, (B) the individual in his/her context, (C) the individual as part of a group, and (D) the individual as part of the population. Category A included a paternalistic view and B included a maternalistic as well as an autonomous view. Both paternalism and maternalism imply an inequality in the relationship between the professional and the client. Category C had an organizational perspective, whereas category D had a community perspective. Both of these perspectives included an abstract view of the client. The conclusions were that the professionals had qualitatively different views on clients, which might lead to unequal encounters as well as differences in opportunities for rehabilitation. The results stress the importance of discussing what ethical values are desirable, not least in inter-organizational and interprofessional projects.