Encounters between workers sick-listed with common mental disorders and return-to-work stakeholders. Does workers' gender matter?

Introduction: The aims of this paper were to examine how disabled workers assess encounters with return-to-work (RTW) stakeholders during sickness absence due to common mental disorders (CMD) and to investigate gender differences in these assessments. Method: Data on contact with and assessment of encounters with RTW-stakeholders were obtained from a questionnaire investigation (N = 226). The participants were recruited from employees applying for sickness benefits due to CMD from the Municipality of Copenhagen. Results: High support was most often reported from the personal and health system, especially from the psychologists (83%), while encounters with social insurance officers were least often reported to be highly supportive (16%). Colleagues were more often reported to be highly supportive (49%) than supervisors (30%). Gender differences were found both in contact with and assessments of encounters. Women were less likely to participate in a sickness absence interview with the employer, to receive care from a psychiatrist, and also assessed the encounter with the supervisor as less supportive and respectful. Gender differences remained statistically significant after controlling for several covariates, including depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The study findings strongly indicate that further attention needs to be directed towards improving the workers' relationship with supervisors and social insurance officers. Findings apply in particular to women.