AbstractsLaw & Legal Studies

The aim of the study was to examine the knowledge and experience women, who participants in the project Steget vidare , have to health, quality of life and empowerment and how long-term sickness absence has affected these components. A further aim of this study was to examine whether and if so, how the project's rehabilitative efforts targeted to health may be related to increased opportunities to return to work. The methods for generating data were qualitative interviews based on seven long-term sick individuals who participated in the project Steget vidare s health group. The result indicates that the interviewees have a clear picture of what health and quality of life are, while the concept of empowerment is not as obvious. Further, long-term sickness seemed to affect the individual’s health, quality of life and empowerment in various ways, usually in a negative sense. Before their participation in the project, several of the interviewees experienced being caught in an area of nowhere between different social agencies. However, the result indicates that since they started in the project they have received a more individual approach tailored to their specific situation. Due to the result, the social interaction between the health group participators has contributed to an improved life situation for several of them which have strengthened their potential to become competitive on the labor market. Finally, we can conclude that despite of the interviewees’ positive experiences of the project and the process which it includes it is difficult to locate and explain how and to what extent health interventions contribute to participants’ ability to return to work.