Qualitative interviews are generally conducted in person. As the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) prevents in-person interviews, methodological studies which investigate the use of the telephone for persons with different illness experiences are needed. The aim was to explore experiences of the use of telephone during semi-structured research interviews, from the perspective of participants and researchers. Data were collected from mobile phone interviews with 32 individuals who had common mental disorders or multimorbidity which were analyzed thematically, as well as field notes reflecting researchers’ experiences. The findings reveal several advantages of conducting interviews using mobile phones: flexibility, balanced anonymity and power relations, as well as a positive effect on self-disclosure and emotional display (leading to less emotional work and social responsibility). Challenges included the loss of human encounter, intense listening, and worries about technology, as well as sounds or disturbances in the environment. However, the positive aspects of not seeing each other were regarded as more important. In addition, we present some strategies before, during, and after conducting telephone interviews. Telephone interviews can be a valuable first option for data collection, allowing more individuals to be given a fair opportunity to share their experiences.

Hospital personnel have been shown to report child maltreatment to social services less frequently than other professionals. This quantitative study shows that one-half of the respondents within the four largest Swedish children’s hospitals had never made a report. However, nurses’ and nurse assistants’ odds of being low reporters were significantly high, compared with physicians and hospital social workers. Longer working experience, access to guidelines and routines, and feelings of stress were strongly related to deciding not to report. Insecurity in assessment and ambivalence about how to act also had a strong effect, although different emotions had varying impacts on the different professions; hospital social workers were less strongly influenced by emotions in their decision-making.

Coordinators may play a key role during the return-to-work (RTW) process for people on sickness absence. There are still few studies on the newly implemented rehabilitation coordinators (RECO) within Swedish healthcare, and none focus on their competence. The aim of this study was to explore how persons with multimorbidity and psychosocial difficulties describe the professional competence of the RECO they encountered during their RTW process. The study takes a relational and practical approach in defining professional competence, including both what professionals do and what they possess. Interviews with 12 people with multimorbidity and psychosocial difficulties who had encountered a RECO during their RTW process were analysed using thematic analysis. Six different themes were found: communicative and coordinating skills; advisory and guidance skills; engagement and advocacy skills; being persistent and flexible; being empathic and therapeutic; being professional and trustworthy. Most of these are found in research on RTW coordinators, but being persistent, and having advisory, guidance, advocacy and therapeutic skills have not been recognised as important competences previously. This study adds patients’ views on important professional competence that support the RTW process, which should be regarded in further developments of RECOs’ functions and their competence descriptions.

The return-to-work (RTW) process for people with multimorbidity and psychosocial difficulties can be complicated. This study explores the organisational prerequisites for coordinating these patient...

Purpose: People with multimorbidity face a range of barriers in healthcare, and there is little knowledge about their challenges with regard to return-to-work (RTW). Rehabilitation coordinators, a new function in Swedish healthcare, support people in the RTW process. The present study had two aims: to explore what problems and barriers people with multimorbidity experience during their rehabilitation and RTW process and to explore in which domains the coordinators’ support is perceived to be of importance. Methods: Interviews were conducted with 12 persons with multimorbidity who had contact with a rehabilitation coordinator during their sickness absence. Thematic analysis was guided by the case-management ecological model; this analysis was revised and adapted to the Swedish context. Results: The participants experienced problems in all domains of the model, namely: “the healthcare system”, “the labor market and the workplace system”, “the sickness insurance system”, and “the personal system”. Rehabilitation programs that did not accommodate combinations of diseases, social complexities and needs were felt to lead to worse symptoms, thus hindering rather than promoting RTW. An overall finding regarding support by coordinators is that interventions, regardless of domain, were felt to be valuable for people with multimorbidity. The coordinator was perceived to give most support by providing advice about and coordination with healthcare and employers. Sometimes the coordinator gave advice and coordination regarding the Social Insurance Agency, very occasionally the Public Employment Services. The coordinator gave least advice and coordination about social difficulties that hindered rehabilitation and RTW processes. Conclusion: People with multimorbidity perceive rehabilitation coordinator interventions as important in all domains investigated. Lack of advice and coordination, or rehabilitation programs that were not modified to the complexities of individual’s circumstances, were associated with prolonged sickness absence, worse health, or social risk factors not being recognized.

Paid work is one of the most important aspects in life among working-aged women diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite several attempts, no previous study provides a comprehensive overview from the women’s perspective about factors of importance for being able to work or not. Therefore, the aim of this study was to gain knowledge about factors that women themselves state are of decisive importance for being able to work or not during the first two years after breast cancer surgery. Data was collected in a two-year follow-up questionnaire within the frame of a prospective cohort study of working-aged women who had undergone breast cancer surgery. 749 were included in the questionnaire study and of the 616 (82%) responding women, 462 (75%) wrote statements on an open-ended question about factors of decisive importance for being able to work or not work during the past two years. The statements were analyzed with content analysis. Five categories of factors of importance for being able to work or not were identified, each covering several sub-categories: Health and wellbeing, Contacts and encounters, Flexibility and adjustment possibilities, Socioeconomic consequences from working/not working, and Own motivation and characteristics. A wide variety of factors were mentioned by the women and the findings give a multifaceted picture of many single but interrelated factors of decisive importance for being able to work/not work. The importance of flexibility in the return-to-work process was stressed, as well as the importance of supportive encounters from, e.g., colleagues, managers, as well as relatives. The results give a comprehensive overview over a variety of different types of factors for being able to return to/remain in work or to not work after breast cancer surgery, adding new knowledge about e.g. the importance of colleagues, and the women’s own preferences or characteristics. These are factors that different stakeholders, both from healthcare but also from the work place and the insurance office, need to be aware of and collaborate around to support women with breast cancer during the period of treatment, rehabilitation and return to work.