Work resumption or not after rehabilitation? A descriptive study from six social insurance offices.

The objective of this study was to describe measures and outcomes of vocational rehabilitation at six local national insurance offices in the same county in Sweden. Data were collected from mainframe registers and other records at each office. There were great differences in sickness allowance, incapacity rate, selected rehabilitation measures and resuming work. The percentage of sick-listed people who received any rehabilitation measure differed from 1.2 to 8.7%. The gender distribution for the study population was 36% men and 64% women and the predominant diagnosis was musculoskeletal pain conditions, which was followed by psychiatric disorders. Outcomes varied from office B, which reported 58% fully fit after completed planned rehabilitation, to office C, which reported only 24% fully fit. The clear differences in outcome between the offices indicate that various rehabilitation measures differ in effectiveness. The rehabilitation measure 'investigation of working ability' was not linked to any great proportion of people resuming work, but showed a greater correspondence to full disability pension. There were also large differences in social and demographic factors in the different municipalities. The effect of these on the rehabilitation process requires further investigation.