ArticleJournal of occupational rehabilitation2011
What happens to work if you're unwell? Beliefs and attitudes of managers and employees with musculoskeletal pain in a public sector setting.
Article in Journal of occupational rehabilitation, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Constituents of Trust in the Context of Return to Work Following a Work Disability: A Scoping Review and a Thematic Analysis.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Pooled it
- A Worksite Self-management Program for Workers with Chronic Health Conditions Improves Worker Engagement and Retention, but not Workplace Function.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2022Trial
- What Challenges Manual Workers' Ability to Cope with Back Pain at Work, and What Influences Their Decision to Call in Sick?Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2015Trial
- Role Perception and Needs of Employers of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Regarding the Return-to-Work of Long-Term Sick-Listed Employees.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Line manager perspectives on workplace-based efforts to reduce sickness absence: a qualitative study.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- Staying at Work with Musculoskeletal Pain in a Physically Demanding Job: A Qualitative Exploration of Workers' and Managers' Perspectives.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Article
- The Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT): A Nine-Month Evaluation of Use, Changes in Self-efficacy, Presenteeism, and Absenteeism in Workers with Chronic and Episodic Disabilities.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Exploring the Role of Sickness Absence Coordinators in Implementing Interventions to Reduce Sickness Absence in Public Sector Workplaces in Denmark.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Exploring line managers' perspectives on using data in managing sickness absence: a qualitative study.Health research policy and systems · 2024Article
- Return-to-Work Experiences in Ontario Policing: Injured But Not Broken.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2024Article
- How do Employees with Chronic Musculoskeletal Disorders Experience the Management of Their Condition in the Workplace? A Metasynthesis.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2023Review
- Work Interventions Within Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Programs (IPRP) - Frequency, Patient Characteristics, and Association with Self-Rated Work Ability.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
- Work as an arena for health-Supervisors' experiences with attending to employees' sick leave and return-to-work process.PloS one · 2023Article
- Including a Three-Party Meeting Using the Demand and Ability Protocol in an Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Programme for a Successful Return to Work Process.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Workplace from the Perspective of Older Employees: A Mixed Methods Research Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Pain management in eldercare employees - the role of managers in addressing musculoskeletal pain and pain-related sickness absence.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Is Injury an Occupational Hazard for Horseracing Staff?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Aligning stakeholders' understandings of the return-to-work process: a qualitative study on workplace meetings in inpatient multimodal occupational rehabilitation.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2021Article
- Attending work with chronic pain is associated with higher levels of psychosocial stress.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2021Article
- Obstacles to returning to work with chronic pain: in-depth interviews with people who are off work due to chronic pain and employers.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionMusculoskeletal complaints can impact on work in terms of productivity, sickness absence and long term incapacity for work. While employee attitudes and knowledge can drive absenteeism and presenteeism behaviour, managers also play an important role in influencing this via the quality of their relationships with employees and their role in implementing organisational policies and procedures. The aims of this study were to investigate the beliefs and attitudes of managers and employees with musculoskeletal pain about sickness absence, presenteeism, and return to work and to identify areas of consensus and conflict.
methods18 employees with musculoskeletal pain and 20 managers from two large public sector organisations in South Wales, UK, took part in individual face-to-face interviews. Data were analysed thematically using NVivo.
resultsEmployees' and managers' reports indicated that there was a strong culture of presenteeism in these organisations. Establishing the legitimacy of complaints was a salient theme for both managers and employees, although their views were in conflict. Employees reported feeling that contact with employers was intrusive when sickness absence was legitimate. Managers were supportive of those who they felt were 'genuinely' unwell, but also cited examples of people 'working the system' and not reporting absences appropriately.
conclusionsThese issues require careful consideration of the rights and responsibilities of both employees and employers, where strategies for improving communication, trust, and creating an environment conducive to successful return to work need to be investigated.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.