The aim of the study was to examine the knowledge and experience women, who participants in the project Steget vidare, have to health, quality of life and empowerment and how long-term sickness absence has affected these components. A further aim of this study was to examine whether and if so, how the project's rehabilitative efforts targeted to health may be related to increased opportunities to return to work. The methods for generating data were qualitative interviews based on seven long-term sick individuals who participated in the project Steget vidares health group. The result indicates that the interviewees have a clear picture of what health and quality of life are, while the concept of empowerment is not as obvious. Further, long-term sickness seemed to affect the individual’s health, quality of life and empowerment in various ways, usually in a negative sense. Before their participation in the project, several of the interviewees experienced being caught in an area of nowhere between different social agencies. However, the result indicates that since they started in the project they have received a more individual approach tailored to their specific situation. Due to the result, the social interaction between the health group participators has contributed to an improved life situation for several of them which have strengthened their potential to become competitive on the labor market. Finally, we can conclude that despite of the interviewees’ positive experiences of the project and the process which it includes it is difficult to locate and explain how and to what extent health interventions contribute to participants’ ability to return to work.

Idag är psykisk ohälsa den vanligaste orsaken till långtidssjukskrivning i Sverige. Denna studie syftade till att undersöka vad det innebär för kvinnor att vara långtidssjukskrivna för psykisk ohälsa och återvända till arbetet. Datainsamlingen bestod av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Totalt intervjuades åtta kvinnor som varit sjukskrivna i minst två månader. Kvinnorna var bosatta i Uppsala län, Västmanlands län och Västra Götalands län. Dataanalysen genomfördes i linje med de riktlinjer IPA-metoden förespråkar. Resultatet påvisar att det förekommer en del svårigheter med att vara långtidssjukskriven för psykisk ohälsa. Mest framträdande var en känsla av orkeslöshet och isolering. Arbetsåtergången var utformad på olika sätt, den vanligaste rehabiliteringsåtgärden var arbetsanpassning. Studiens resultat tyder på att arbetsplatser saknar tydliga rutiner för arbetsåtergång vid långtidssjukskrivning för psykisk ohälsa. Vidare framgick det att delaktighet och inflytande, lyhörda chefer och den egna viljan var viktiga utgångspunkter för en god arbetsåtergång. Socialt stöd betraktades som en viktig förutsättning under hela sjukskrivningsförloppet.

Individer som ska tillbaka i arbete efter långtidssjukskrivning upplever att en hälsofrämjande kommunikation är en viktig och framgångsrik faktor i processen. Studien som har genomförts är en fallstudie där syftet var att undersöka hur arbetsmarknadskonsulenter och arbetshandledare arbetar med hälsofrämjande kommunikation för att få långtidssjukskrivna att återgå i arbete. För att besvara studiens frågeställning som framkom utifrån syftet har den salutogena teorin tillsammans med tidigare forskning tillämpats. En kvalitativ metod har tillämpats genom att tolv anställda intervjuats inom den mellansvenska kommunen och materialet som samlades in analyserades genom en tematisk analys. Av analysen framgick tre teman utifrån datainsamlingen, olika kommunikationsstilar, individanpassad kommunikation samt samtalsmetoder. Resultatet påvisar att arbetsmarknadskonsulenterna samt arbetshandledarna tillämpar flertalet tillvägagångssätt i kommunikationen för att öka deltagandet för långtidssjukskrivna. För att öka deltagandet tillämpar de en hälsofrämjande kommunikationen främst genom att engagera, stötta och vägleda deltagarna genom att bemöta varje individ utifrån deras specifika situation. Ämnet är tidigare relativt outforskat och därmed är det av intresse att undersöka detta vidare vid framtida studier. / Individuals who are going back to work after long-term sick leave experience that health promoting communication is an important and vital factor in the process. The study that has been conducted is a case study where the purpose was to investigate how labor market consultants and work supervisors work with health-promoting communication to get those on long-term sick leave to return to work. In order to answer the question of the study that emerged from the purpose, the salutogenic theory together with previous research has been applied. A qualitative method has been applied by interviewing 12 employees within the central Swedish municipality and the collected material was analyzed through a thematic analysis. The analysis revealed three themes based on the data collection, different communication styles, individualized communication and conversation methods. The results show that the labor market consultants and the supervisors apply the majority of approaches in communication to increase participation for those on long-term sick leave. To increase participation, they apply a health-promoting communication primarily by engaging, supporting and guiding the participants by responding to each individual based on their specific situation. The subject is previously relatively unexplored and thus it is of interest to investigate this further in future studies.

The overall aim of this study was to illustrate the organizations importance to female staff within education, health and social care on return to work after long term sick leave due to mental illness. The aim of this study was also to identify improvement opportunities. A qualitative study was made with seven interviewees that had return to work after long term sick leave for mental illness. The material was analyzed with an inducitve thematic method. The main themes that emerged was: Information and consulting, Social support from managers and colleagues, Changed attitude and participation in the rehabilitation process and Improvement opportunities. The main result showed that the social support from managers and colleagues and the changed attitude towards the illness mattered the most to the interviewees for a successful return to work. The result also showed that the interviewees had a great need of information about the sick leave process. According to the interviewees the understanding and knowledge about mental illness has to increase.