Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul 5.
doi: 10.1007/s10926-025-10309-z. Online ahead of print.

What Works (or Doesn't) in Return to Work after Physical Injury? A Qualitative Study on the Perspectives of Trauma Patients and Health Care Professionals on Barriers and Facilitators in Return to Work

E de Groot  1 , A M Hermans  2 , M A C de Jongh  2   3 , R E Geuze  4 , I M van Dongen  5 , S Hommes  6 , R D Vromans  6 , E Krahmer  6 , T Houwen  7 , K M E Janssens  2 , M C W Joosen  2
Affiliations

What Works (or Doesn't) in Return to Work after Physical Injury? A Qualitative Study on the Perspectives of Trauma Patients and Health Care Professionals on Barriers and Facilitators in Return to Work

E de Groot et al. J Occup Rehabil. .

Abstract

Purpose: Return to work (RTW) after physical injury may be challenging. This study aims to gain insight into barriers and facilitators in RTW, using a multi-stakeholder perspective from trauma patients with diverse injuries and health care professionals (HCPs).

Methods: Three focus groups (n = 13) and four interviews were conducted with patients who sustained an extremity injury, spinal injury, or traumatic brain injury. Four focus groups (n = 19) were conducted with HCPs (e.g., occupational physicians, trauma surgeons). Data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed for patients and HCPs separately.

Results: Both patients and HCPs emphasized that RTW can be influenced by the extent to which core work tasks are affected by the injury. Barriers in RTW related to lack of RTW follow-up care, limited consultation time, and lack of support in the work environment. Shared facilitators were found in work not affecting the injury, and when adequate support is provided by HCPs and the work environment. While patients and HCPs shared similar ideas, perspectives diverged on RTW follow-up care, provided by HCPs in hospital. HCPs in hospital perceive physical recovery as their core task instead of RTW follow-up care, which is perceived by patients to detract attention to life after injury.

Conclusion: According to patients and HCPs, regardless of the injury, the combination of injury type and job type influences RTW. Across injuries, receiving RTW follow-up care from HCPs in hospital was often missed, while perceived to facilitate RTW. Tailored RTW information could be useful to patients in resuming life after injury.

Keywords: Follow-up care; Recovery; Return to work; Trauma; Vocational rehabilitation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Informed Consent: All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study. Ethics Approval: All procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. The study design, protocol, information letter, informed consent form, and questionnaires were evaluated and approved by The Ethics Review Board of Tilburg University (TSB_RP435) and by the Board of Directors from the Elisabeth-TweeSteden Ziekenhuis. Consent to Participate: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Consent to Publish: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

References

    1. Vles WJ, et al. Prevalence and determinants of disabilities and return to work after major trauma. J Trauma. 2005;58(1):126–35. - PubMed - DOI
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Injuries and violence: the facts 2014.
    1. de Munter L, et al. Prognostic factors for medical and productivity costs, and return to work after trauma. PLoS ONE. 2020;15(3): e0230641. - PubMed - PMC - DOI
    1. Van Ditshuizen JC, et al. Comparing health status after major trauma across different levels of trauma care. Injury. 2023;54:871–9. - PubMed - DOI
    1. Dunn DS, Brody C. Defining the good life following acquired physical disability. Rehabil Psychol. 2008;53(4):413–25. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources