Gun Johansson, a postgraduate at Karolinska Institutetās Department of Public Health Sciences, presents in her thesis the illness flexibility model in order to elucidate the causes of sickness absence. The study shows that the less adaptable a workplace, the higher the rate of sick leave. Her results may affect how peopleās working lives can be organised to incorporate ill health and make it easier for those who are ill to remain at work.
The illness flexibility model describes how illness affects peopleās ability and motivation to work. If people are given opportunities to adapt their pace of work, their duties and their hours according to their state of health, the chances are greater that they will be able to continue to work instead of having to take time off sick. Amongst those who are still obliged to take sick leave, the chances are greater that they will return to work after a long absence if these adaptive possibilities exist.
Absence from work can have negative consequences, both for the employee concerned and his/her colleagues, who might have to take on the surplus burden. The outcome is that certain people feel compelled to go to work despite being ill and in need of convalescence. Such a heavy pressure on attendance increases the likelihood of a high rate of sickness absence.
In Sweden, sicklistings are more common amongst manual workers than non-manual. This discrepancy shrinks if factors in differences regarding health and the opportunities people have to adapt their work, attendance requirements and job stimulation is counted for. Opportunities that are more limited for the manual worker.
Thesis: āThe illness flexibility model and sickness absenceā, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet. Public defence will take place on 1 June.
For further information, please contact:
Sociologist Gun Johansson
Tel: +46 (0)8-737 37 39 or +46 (0)733-628362 (mobile)
Email: gun.johansson@sll.se
Press Officer Katarina Sternudd
Tel: +46 (0)8-524 838 95 or +46 (0)70-224 38 95 (mobile)
Email: katarina.sternudd@ki.se
Karolinska Institutet is one of the leading medical universities in Europe. Through research, education and information, Karolinska Institutet contributes to improving human health. Each year, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. For more information, visit ki.se
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