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Quality of Working Life Issues of Employees with a Chronic Physical Disease: A Systematic Review

Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation volume 25, pages 182–196 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose To assess issues that contribute to the Quality of Working Life (QWL) of employees with a chronic physical disease. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted using the databases PubMed, PsycINFO and EMBASE. Experiences and perceptions during the working life of employees with a chronic physical disease were extracted and synthesized into issues that contributed to their QWL. We organized these synthesized QWL issues into higher order themes and categories with qualitative data analysis software. Results From a total of 4,044 articles identified by the search, 61 articles were included. Data extraction and data synthesis resulted in an overview of 73 QWL issues that were classified into 30 themes. The following five categories of themes were identified: (1) job characteristics with issues such as job flexibility and work-site access; (2) the social structure and environment containing issues about disclosure, discrimination, misunderstanding, and awareness by employers or colleagues; (3) organizational characteristics with issues such as requesting work accommodations; (4) individual work perceptions including issues about enjoyment and evaluating work or life priorities; and (5) effect of the disease and treatment including issues about cognitive and physical health and work ability. Conclusion This systematic review offers an extensive overview of issues that might contribute to the QWL of employees with a chronic physical disease. This overview may function as a starting point for occupational support, such as monitoring and evaluating the QWL of employees with a chronic physical disease during return-to-work and work continuation processes.

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Acknowledgments

The study is part of the research project ‘Quality of working life of cancer survivors’ and was granted by the Dutch Cancer Society, registration number 2011-5228. This work was supported by COST Action IS1211 CANWON.

Conflict of interest

Merel de Jong, Angela G. E. M. de Boer, Sietske J. Tamminga and Monique H. W. Frings-Dresen declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 22660, 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Merel de Jong, Angela G. E. M. de Boer, Sietske J. Tamminga & Monique H. W. Frings-Dresen

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  1. Merel de Jong
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  2. Angela G. E. M. de Boer
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  3. Sietske J. Tamminga
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Correspondence to Merel de Jong.

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de Jong, M., de Boer, A.G.E.M., Tamminga, S.J. et al. Quality of Working Life Issues of Employees with a Chronic Physical Disease: A Systematic Review. J Occup Rehabil 25, 182–196 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-014-9517-6

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Keywords

  • Quality of working life
  • Chronic diseases
  • Return-to-work
  • Work continuation
  • Systematic review