Mid Sweden University

Background: An earlier study states that the terms of desire, longing, and vanity carry with them ideas, emotions, and values that influence how individuals perceive themselves and their rehabilitation process. Our aim was (1) to use concept analysis to explore the meaning of the terms desire, longing, and vanity and (2) to investigate the potential role of these concepts in successful rehabilitation back to work. Methods: To achieve these two objectives, we used a model of concept analysis. The final step in the model is to define empirical references, for example, articles within the scientific literature, to determine the existence of a concept in a given situation. Results: The concept analysis resulted in 15 new searchable terms. All of these were accepted in the thesaurus system for the databases we used. We identified 59 scientific articles that were deemed relevant to the purposes of the study. Of these, only 20 was about emotions as driving forces in a rehabilitation process back to work. Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that the concepts of desire, longing, and vanity encompassed ideas, emotions, and values that influence how individuals perceived themselves and their situations. How individuals talk about and understand rehabilitation will undoubtedly play a role in how they respond to interventions, and thus, the success of the rehabilitation process back to work.Implications for rehabilitationEmotional energy often drives behavior and can provide significant motivation that potentially can mobilize vocational rehabilitation.The concepts of desire, longing and vanity encompass ideas, emotions, and values that influence individuals’ self-perception and their view of their situation. To engage people in discussions on what they long for and desire could be a new way to connect with a person in a rehabilitation situation.It can be less provoking to talk about what a person desires or longs for than to ask them what they want or are motivated for.Feelings of meaningfulness are a basic driving force and a contributing factor in how health is experienced. By affirming the desire to do activities that are liked, this in turn generates motivation to be engaged in other activities. Individual confidence is generated through the experience of mastering a skill and this in turn can underpin a desire to return to work after long-term sick leave. Earlier experience of success can be an inspiration and create expectations for a forthcoming working-role.Emotions relating to work such as pride can generate motivation in a rehabilitation process. Vanity and the possibility of being “ashamed” in a certain situation can be an emotional driving force to re-establish one’s self.

Bokkapitlet bygger på ett intervjumaterial med kvinnor som efter längre tids sjukdom lyckats återgå till arbetslivet. I materialet framkom faktorer som kan karakteriseras som mer eller mindre självklara i förhållande till återgång till arbete: ekonomi, arbetsmoral, bemötande etc. Men, de intervjuade kvinnorna uttryckte också att känslor hade varit avgörande drivkrafter. Detta fångade vår uppmärksamhet. Fåfänga, lust och längtan – är det vanligt att sådana känsloaspekter lyfts fram och beskrivs som drivkrafter i en rehabiliteringsprocess? Nej, skulle det visa sig när vi gjorde litteratursök. Detta kan bero på att det ofta är den biomedicinska synen på hälsa som dominerar. Den biomedicinska inriktningen är reduktionistisk, dvs. att helheten reduceras till dess delar, t.ex. olika organsystem (Medin og Alexandersson, 2000). De känslomässiga aspekterna däremot anses inte viktiga i ett sådant perspektiv. I bokkapitlet argumenterar vi i stället för varför vi anser att en människa bör ses i den helhet och kontext som hon upplever sig vara i (Nettleton, 2006). Det känns därför viktigt att lyfta fram och diskutera känslomässiga drivkrafter eftersom just fåfänga, lust och längtan hade haft avgörande betydelse för kvinnorna i det empiriska materialet.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to identify situations and phenomena that have simplified returning to work for women on long-term sick leave. Participants: Seven women who were exposed to a relatively large number of risk factors that normally are associated with difficulties in returning to work. Methods: In-depth interviews with qualitative content analysis. Results: The analysis indicated four main categories of factors: The Individual, Interactions, Surrounding Resources, and Situations. In each of the main categories structural factors exist and it appears that these have been of significant importance to the women in their return to work. These are presented as Key Factors and they are: clarification of - and the need for - support in the personal process of change; desire, longing, and vanity; respectful interactions between the individual and people in her surroundings; the structure and content of the rehabilitation clinic; the importance of the perceived reality; and the individual's sense of control during the work related rehabilitation process. Conclusions: The results mostly revealed phenomena that have been indicated and described in earlier research studies. However, emotions such as desire, longing and vanity as motivation and driving forces behind a return to work have not been earlier described.