The number of partners providing informal care for their chronically ill spouse is rising, and they describe their daily life as demanding. The aim of this paper was to describe the partners’ experiences of living with a person with chronic illness and how they manage everyday life. A descriptive design with a qualitative approach was used. A purposive sample of 16 Swedish partners with a chronically ill spouse were interviewed. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Four main themes were identified: ‘Managing challenges in daily life,’ ‘Seeking support and use own capabilities to manage life,’ ‘Appreciating the good parts of life’ and ‘Adapting to constant changes and an uncertain future’. Their experiences of support from formal care providers varied; they expressed the need for more assistance from the health care sector. The partners experienced many challenges in everyday life when providing informal care for their chronically ill spouse. This affected both their physical and psychological health, as they had limited time for themselves. The partners seemed to receive more support from their informal network than from formal care providers. In handling daily life, the partners balanced demands and resources to identify possibilities to move forward and find meaning in life. This is congruent with theories by Antonovsky, and Folkman and Lazarus that describes meaningfulness and how to handle challenges in everyday life.

Musculoskeletal pain is one of the leading causes of sick leave, especially among women, in Western countries. The aim of the present study was to identify factors associated with work ability and well-being, respectively, among women on sick leave due to long-term pain in the neck/shoulders and/or back. A cross-sectional study with a correlational design was conducted on women who were sick-listed due to long-term pain in the neck/shoulders and/or back. A total of 208 participants responded to a survey comprising eight instruments: Multidimensional Pain Inventory scale, General Self-Efficacy scale, Sense of Coherence scale, Coping Strategies Questionnaire, Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Work Ability Index and Life Satisfaction questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with work ability and well-being, respectively. Women who more strongly believed they would return to the same work had greater work ability (β = 0.39, p < 0.001), whereas women with higher pain intensity (β = − 0.30, p < 0.001) and higher job strain (β = − 0.12, p < 0.05) had lower work ability. Women with higher self-efficacy rated greater well-being (β = 0.14, p < 0.05). As the women’s scores for depression increased, their well-being decreased by 48%, which was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The regression models for work ability and well-being were significant (p < 0.001), and their adjusted R- square values were 48% and 59%, respectively. The study suggests that the factors beliefs to be back at the same work, pain intensity and job strain are predictive of work ability. Moreover, the factors self-efficacy and depression seem to be predictive of well-being. The findings highlight factors that should be considered by health care professionals and policy-makers to guide attempts to reduce sick leave.

Background: Impaired work ability and reduced life satisfaction due to long-term musculoskeletal pain, particularly in neck, shoulders and back, are considered occupational health problems that can result in workers taking sick leave. The aim of the study was to determine whether work ability and life satisfaction predict return to work (RTW) among women with long-term neck/shoulder and/or back pain, and to assess the ability of the Work Ability Index (WAI) and the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (LiSat-11) to discriminate between those who did RTW and those who did not RTW (NRTW). Methods: This is a cohort study with 1-year follow-up. A survey was sent to 600 women receiving sick leave benefits from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. In total, 208 women responded at baseline, and 141 at a 1-year follow-up. To identify whether work ability and life satisfaction predicted RTW, multiple logistic regression analyses were performed with and without adjustment for type of work and pain intensity. To assess the discriminative ability of the WAI and the LiSat-11 for women who did RTW and those who did NRTW, receiver operating characteristic curves were fitted. Results: Work ability predicted RTW, and the results remained significant after adjusting for type of work and pain intensity (OR 1.12, 95% CI: 1.04–1.22). Life satisfaction was not significant. The WAI at baseline adequately discriminated between RTW and NRTW after 1 year (Area under curve 0.78, 95% CI: 0.70–0.86), but the LiSat-11 did not. Conclusions: This study supports a relationship between work ability and RTW among women on sick leave for long-term neck/shoulder and/or back pain. The results indicate that the WAI, but not the LiSat-11, can discriminate between RTW and NRTW in the population under study. Although the discriminative ability of the WAI needs to be verified in new samples before it can be recommended for use in rehabilitation settings, we suggest that healthcare professionals consider how women perceive their work ability in order to better support them in their RTW.

Mental health problems are prevalent among university students, underscoring the need to improve access to effective interventions. Mental healthcare utilization is influenced by general and country-specific factors. This study aimed to identify and compare preferences and barriers to help-seeking for mental health problems among university students in three European countries. A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted with a sample of 4960 university students from Portugal (n = 3399), Germany (n = 680), and Sweden (n = 881). Depressive symptoms (9-item Patient Health Questionnaire) and overall mental health (5-item Mental Health Index) were assessed. Students responded to questions regarding help-seeking preferences for and barriers to mental health problems. Rates of moderate to severe depressive symptoms ranged from 37.5 to 51.0 % and were highest among German students. A majority (76.3-89.3 %) of students indicated they would talk to a friend in case of mental health problems. Readiness to seek help was particularly high among Portuguese students. Readiness to use internet-based interventions was low among all students. Up to 51 % of students reported uncertainty regarding where they could seek help. Students with depressive symptoms versus those without were less likely to speak with a friend about emotional problems but were more likely to consider taking medications. Students with depressive symptoms were also more likely to endorse several help-seeking barriers. Reducing structural barriers, improving awareness of treatment options and increasing acceptance of help-seeking for emotional problems may improve uptake of mental health services among students in these European countries.

The aim was to compare coping strategies and quality of life (QoL) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) with such strategies and QOL in persons from two general Swedish populations and to investigate relationships between personal characteristics and coping strategies. A cross-sectional, comparative and correlational design was used to examine data from three sources. The patient group (n = 124), defined using ICD-10, was selected consecutively from two hospitals in central Sweden. The population group (n = 515) consisted of persons drawn randomly from the Swedish population. Data were collected with questionnaires in 2011; regarding QoL, Swedish population reference data from 1994 were used. Overall, women used more coping strategies than men did. Compared with the general population data from SF-36, patients with CHF rated lower QoL. In the regression models, perceived low “efficiency in managing psychological aspects of daily life” increased use of coping. Other personal characteristics related to increased use of coping strategies were higher education, lower age and unsatisfactory economic situation.

Background: Long-term sick leave due to common mental disorders (CMDs) is a great burden in society today, especially among women. A strong intention to return to work (RTW) as well as symptom relief may facilitate RTW in this group. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding what constitutes a strong intention. The Theory of Planned Behaviour is well-suited to identifying underlying beliefs about intentions to perform a behaviour. By including psychological well-being and perceived health, a more comprehensive picture of determinants of RTW intention might be achieved. Thus, the aim of the present study was to identify associations between RTW beliefs, psychological well-being, perceived health and RTW intentions among women on long-term sick leave due to CMDs, and to do so based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Methods: The study was cross-sectional. Between October 2019 and January 2020, 282 women on long-term sick leave (> 2 months) due to CMDs were included in the study. The questionnaires for data collection were: “RTW Beliefs Questionnaire”, the “General Health Questionnaire -12” and the “EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale”. Standard multiple regression analysis was performed both with and without adjustment for potential confounders. Results: The results showed that a more positive attitude towards RTW, stronger social pressure to RTW, higher perceived control over RTW and higher psychological well-being were associated with stronger RTW intention. The adjusted analysis eliminated the importance of psychological well-being for RTW intention, but showed that women who reported that their employer had taken actions to facilitate their RTW had stronger RTW intention. Conclusion: The RTW beliefs, derived from the Theory of Planned Behaviour, were all important for a strong RTW intention, while psychological well-being and perceived health showed weaker associations. Furthermore, having an employer that take actions for facilitating RTW was associated with stronger RTW intentions. Though some caution is warranted regarding the representativeness of the sample, the results do improve our understanding of some important determinants of RTW intention among women on long-term sick leave for CMDs.