A scooping review of Scandinavian studies of sick-listed' and social insurance officers' experiences of their encounters'

Abstract

In the Scandinavian countries, social insurance officers (SIOs) hold key positions with regard to coordinating the return-to-work (RTW) process of workers on long-term sick-leave. This article aimed to systematically explore the experience of encounters between the sick-listed and SIOs and set out the current scientific knowledge base on factors related to the encounter that are perceived as having an impact on the sick-listed's RTW. A scoping review was conducted that included peer-reviewed articles published in the English language in the period January 2000 to February 2021. Of the 435 articles reviewed to determine eligibility, 38 were included. Most of the articles included were qualitative (68%) and focused on the sick-listed's experience of encounters with RTW professionals. The main finding of this review is that the majority of the sick-listed perceived the encounters with SIOs as positive. The perspective of SIOs was less subject to study, and the research focus was more often concerned with practical aspects of the encounter, such as stakeholder cooperation and the impact of policy on SIOs' working conditions. Furthermore, we found that SIOs experience challenges in stakeholder cooperation and in performing workability assessments, especially where objective medical information is scarce. The findings of this review suggest that future studies should pay more attention to the SIO perspective in encounters between sick-listed and SIOs.