Living and working with sickness: a qualitative study
Contact - Suzanne Lithgow. e-mail: slithgow@liv.ac.uk Tel. 0151 764 5269
Academic Lead
Dr Mark Gabbay
Researchers
Suzanne Lithgow
Project Status
Ongoing until November 2005 (PhD submission)
Funding
MPCR&DC Internally funded
Aim
To determine how and why people come to see their illness/incapacity as originating in a certain way, and how this impacts on work
- Explore the illness cognitions of informants to determine how they assess their physical and psychological capacity to undertake ordinary remunerative work.
- To identify potential interventions to prevent chronicity
Method
Qualitative: narrative analysis
The narrative approach draws from feminist and interpretive approaches and emphasises the relativism of culture, the sharing of responsibility and power during the interview process, the importance of seeing meaning in context, and concern for the interviewee in order to maintain an ethical relationship.
The emphasis in this research project is the elicitation of illness narratives to provide a window on social and personal change resulting in certified absence from the workplace. The interview seeks to discover the participants' explanations for events and descriptions of processes regarding their illness experience and decisions about return to work.
Results
The results suggest that there are thematic and structural differences in the way that people construct themselves narratively, depending upon whether the absence is work-related or work-independent. Furthermore, there are also thematic and structural differences according to whether the participant intends to return to work or withdraw from the labour market.
For those who are absent for work-related reasons, the themes revolve around organisational change, lack of control at work, financial security and an ambivalent attachment to work identity. Whilst for those who are absent for work-independent reasons, the themes relate to the positive elements of work for physical and psychological health, and the efficacy of medical interventions for recovery.
Conclusions
The methodology has been useful for identifying differences in the way illness narratives are constructed in relation to whether the individual intends to return to work or withdraw from the labour market. This may be of benefit for GPs and occupational health physicians who wish to offer timely interventions to prevent chronic absence.
Conference Presentations
- EUPHA - Poster Presentation (October 2004)
- University of Liverpool Post-Graduate School – Poster Presentation (March 2004)
- SAPC (ASM) – Oral Presentation (July 2003)
- Meeting SAPC (Regional) Conference – Oral Presentation (March 2003)