Enhanced Capacity to Act: Managers' Perspectives When Participating in a Dialogue-Based Workplace Intervention for Employee Return to Work.
Therese Eskilsson, Sofia Norlund, Arja Lehti and 1 others
PMID 32737671WHAT IT FOUND
Managers involved in a workplace dialogue alongside group cognitive behavioral therapy in a multimodal program described building competence, adjusting work tasks, making written plans, and sharing responsibility.
They saw these as useful for return-to-work conversations.
Key findings
01The managers' accounts centered on building competence, making adjustments, and sharing responsibility in the return-to-work process.
02Managers described learning to notice subtle stress and overload, including in employees who appeared to be performing well.
03Managers described concrete process elements such as work task adjustments, written plans, regular follow-ups, and shared responsibility.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 16 managers were interviewed, from 22 invited after 6 declined. Participants were managers whose employees completed the 24-week multimodal program, so managers of employees who did not complete may be missing. The authors note that only managers who participated and were potentially positive about the intervention were captured. The paper reports managers' perspectives only, not employees' experiences or return-to-work outcomes. The workplace intervention was delivered alongside group cognitive behavioral therapy and a multidisciplinary team, so the contribution of the dialogue meeting alone cannot be separated. The setting is Swedish healthcare and workplace rules, so transfer to other systems may be limited. The analysis is interpretive and depends on researchers' perspectives.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Västerbotten Läns Landsting and AFA Försäkring. The supplied text does not include author conflict-of-interest declarations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that the dialogue-based workplace intervention improves return-to-work. It is qualitative interviews with 16 managers about their experience. It reports no return-to-work outcomes. The employees also received a 24-week multimodal program that included group cognitive behavioral therapy, so the contribution of the dialogue meeting alone cannot be separated.