Centrum Werk Gezondheid has conducted a qualitative study among Long COVID patients who have been registered with C-support. These patients have been extensively interviewed about their work and return to work. This has provided insight into the inhibiting and promoting factors that play a role in this. A list of 10 factors has been drawn up that determine a good return to work process.
The 10 factors
- Career before corona
- Support from manager/employer
- Support from colleagues
- Support from home
- Self-direction
- Experimental space when returning to work
- Work adjustment
- Role of company doctor
- Role of healthcare provider
- Knowledge about legislation on illness and work
These factors will be leading for guidelines of healthcare providers and other professionals who are involved in work and Long COVID. They will also be used in follow-up research, both by the Center itself and other researchers. Unique in this research is that the focus is not on the individual patient but that the environment is central. It is not only about what the patient can do to be able to return to work, but about what the environment can do for him or her.
Five employee profiles
The research also starts with a classification of groups of employees with long-term complaints; the so-called employee profiles. With these profiles we show how the ten factors work out in the life of an employee:
- Boss out of sight
- To be alone
- Do it yourselfer
- Everything is green
- Things were going well before corona
The employee profiles can be used to show the influence of the ten factors on returning to work in context. For example, in information and training for healthcare providers, employers and HR managers. But also in individual guidance of Post COVID patients. The profiles will become part of the patient profiles that the medical advisors of C-support develop for Post COVID patients.
Read the full article “Returning to work in post-COVID syndrome: Ten factors and five employee profiles that can make a difference".
COVWORKS and COVID-19 and work
The research is part of COVWORKS, a short-term eight-month research. The research consists of both qualitative and quantitative (numerical) research. The results of the quantitative research are expected after the summer.
COVWORKS is part of the COVID-19 and work program in which Centrum Werk Gezondheid, together with C-support, develops information and training materials on working with long-term corona complaints. The new insights have also been incorporated into a revised COVID-19 and work guidelines
