Return to work perceptions and actual return to work in workers with common mental disorders

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Psychology
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Return to work (RTW) perceptions are crucial for workers with common mental disorders.
• Previous research indicates RTW perceptions predict actual RTW outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the predictive power of RTW self-efficacy (RTW-SE) versus RTW expectation for actual RTW.
• To explore how mental health symptoms and work characteristics influence RTW perceptions.

Main Methods:

• 179 workers with common mental disorders were followed for 12 months.
• Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and linear regression models were used.
• RTW self-efficacy, RTW expectation, mental health, and RTW were assessed via self-report.

Main Results:

• RTW-SE demonstrated stronger prediction of actual RTW compared to RTW expectation.
• Lower fatigue, fewer depressive symptoms, and manageable work pace/load correlated with higher RTW-SE.
• Improvements in mental health symptoms paralleled increases in RTW-SE; high work pace/load was linked to lower RTW-SE.

Conclusions:

• The RTW-SE scale is recommended for identifying workers at risk of delayed RTW.
• Work characteristics and evolving mental health symptoms significantly impact RTW-SE throughout the recovery process.