The effect of vocational rehabilitation on later sick leave.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of vocational rehabilitation on later sick leave for employed and unemployed people on long-term sick leave. The study was based on long-term sick-leave cases initiated during 1992-1994 in Stockholm, Sweden. Of 1704 cases, 383 (321 employed and 62 unemployed) underwent vocational rehabilitation. These were individually matched with sick-leave cases not undergoing rehabilitation, using the variables age, sex, diagnoses and employment status. The hypotheses were (1) that people who underwent rehabilitation, both employed and unemployed, would have less later sick leave than those who did not, and (2) that rehabilitation would affect employed people more than unemployed people. These hypotheses were only partly supported. The results indicate that vocational rehabilitation has a positive effect regarding later sick leave only for unemployed men. For unemployed women the effect is negative and for those employed, both men and women, rehabilitation has no demonstrable effect.