Dataset Information

Shame! Self-stigmatisation as an obstacle to sick doctors returning to work: a qualitative study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To explore the views of sick doctors on the obstacles preventing them returning to work.

Design

Qualitative study.

Setting

Single participating centre recruiting doctors from all over the UK.

Participants

Doctors who had been away from work for at least 6 months with physical or mental health problems, drug or alcohol problems, General Medical Council involvement or any combination of these, were eligible. Eligible doctors were recruited in conjunction with the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, the General Medical Council and the Practitioner Health Programme. These organisations approached 77 doctors; 19 participated. Each doctor completed an in-depth semistructured interview. We used a constant comparison method to identify and agree on the coding of the data and the identification of a number of central themes.

Results

The doctors described that being away from work left them isolated and sad. Many experienced negative reactions from their family and some deliberately concealed their problems. Doctors described a lack of support from colleagues and feared a negative response when returning to work. Self-stigmatisation was central to the participants' accounts; several described themselves as failures and appeared to have internalised the negative views of others.

Conclusions

Self-stigmatising views, which possibly emerge from the belief that 'doctors are invincible', represent a major obstacle to doctors returning to work. From medical school onwards cultural change is necessary to allow doctors to recognise their vulnerabilities so they can more easily generate strategies to manage if they become unwell.

SUBMITTER: Henderson M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3488732 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Shame! Self-stigmatisation as an obstacle to sick doctors returning to work: a qualitative study.

Henderson Max M Brooks Samantha K SK Del Busso Lilliana L Chalder Trudie T Harvey Samuel B SB Hotopf Matthew M Madan Ira I Hatch Stephani S

BMJ open 20121015 5

<h4>Objective</h4>To explore the views of sick doctors on the obstacles preventing them returning to work.<h4>Design</h4>Qualitative study.<h4>Setting</h4>Single participating centre recruiting doctors from all over the UK.<h4>Participants</h4>Doctors who had been away from work for at least 6 months with physical or mental health problems, drug or alcohol problems, General Medical Council involvement or any combination of these, were eligible. Eligible doctors were recruited in conjunction with ...[more]

PMID: 23069770

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Project description:BackgroundPeople aged over 50 years form a growing proportion of the working age population, but are at increased risk of unemployment compared to other age groups. It is often difficult to return to work after unemployment, particularly for those with health issues. In this paper, we explored the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of returning to work after a period of unemployment (hereafter RTW) barriers among unemployed adults aged over 50 years.MethodIn-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 26 unemployed individuals aged 50-64 years who were engaged with the UK Government's Work Programme. Data were thematically analysed.ResultsAge alone was not discussed by participants as a barrier to work; rather their discussions of barriers to work focused on the ways in which age influenced other issues in their lives. For participants reporting chronic health conditions, or disabilities, there was a concern about being unfit to return to their previous employment area, and therefore having to "start again" in a new career, with associated concerns about their health status and managing their treatment burden. Some participants also reported experiencing either direct or indirect ageism (including related to their health status or need to access healthcare) when looking for work. Other issues facing older people included wider socio-political changes, such as the increased pension age, were felt to be unfair in many ways and contradicted existing expectations of social roles (such as acting as a carer for other family members).ConclusionOver-50s experienced multiple and interacting issues, at both the individual and societal level, that created RTW barriers. There is a need for employability interventions that focus on supporting the over-50s who have fallen out of the labour market to take a holistic approach, working across healthcare, employability and the local labour market, providing treatment and skills training for both those out of work and for employers, in order to create an intervention that that helps achieve RTW and its associated health benefit.

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Dataset Information

Shame! Self-stigmatisation as an obstacle to sick doctors returning to work: a qualitative study.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Shame! Self-stigmatisation as an obstacle to sick doctors returning to work: a qualitative study.

Similar Datasets

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