Job functions of Swedish public and private rehabilitation workers; their perceived level of importance and related knowledge.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate and gather knowledge of how important the various functions of Swedish rehabilitation workers are and whether this knowledge is equivalent to the demands of the vocational rehabilitation process.

PARTICIPANTS

Swedish rehabilitation workers from both public and private sectors.

METHODS

A questionnaire comprising 89 work task items was used to identify the major dimensions of the Swedish rehabilitation workers job in the rehabilitation process. A principle component factor analysis was performed on the 89 job-task items from the Swedish Task Inventory.

RESULTS

The number of factors/dimensions that could be formed was only three, which is judged to be limited both in scope and depth. The level of perceived knowledge reported varied from limited to having the required competence. The results also reveal that the workers perceive their work tasks and the dimensions that make up their role function as being of moderate to low importance. Their perceived level of knowledge for the similar work task items and dimensions were rated moderate to low. Differences between the groups of rehabilitation workers were mixed.

CONCLUSIONS

The vocational rehabilitation process offered in Sweden is limited. It appears that the level of knowledge within the area can and should be increased and that better education is needed in order to improve the quality of the vocational rehabilitation process and for further development to take place.