Abstract
Objective
To investigate frequency, type, and characteristics of work anxieties in patients
with somatic illness.
Design
Cross-sectional observation study.
Setting
Neurology, orthopedic, and cardiology rehabilitation clinics.
Participants
Patients (N=1610; age, 18–65y) with work anxieties.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Patients who scored high on at least 2 of 9 items in the work-anxiety screening questionnaire
and who reported impairment were investigated with a differential diagnostic interview
on work anxieties and with the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview on non–work-related
common mental disorders. Patients also filled out a self-rating questionnaire on their
subjective symptom load and sociodemographic data.
Results
Approximately 20% to 27% of the investigated inpatients in somatic rehabilitation
(altogether n=393) received a work-anxiety diagnosis. Patients with orthopedic illness
report highest work anxiety and have previous longest sick leave (20.6wk in the past
12mo). Patients with orthopedic illness suffer from work-related adjustment disorder
with anxiety, social anxieties, and workplace phobias, whereas patients with cardiac
illness are more often affected by hypochondriac anxieties. Anxieties of insufficiency
and worrying occur equally in all indications.
Conclusions
About a quarter of patients in somatic rehabilitation are in need of additional diagnostic
attention owing to work anxieties. Differential diagnostic of work anxiety is needed
for initiating adequate therapeutic action. Somatic rehabilitation physicians should
be aware of work anxieties in their patients, especially in patients with orthopedic
illness with previous long-term sick leave.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
IMET (Index for the Measurement of Restrictions in Participation), MINI (Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview), WAI (Work-Anxiety-Interview), WHO-5 (WHO-Five Well-Being Index), WPS (Workplace Phobia Scale)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 20, 2017
Footnotes
Supported by the German Pension Fund (grant no. 8011 - 106 - 31/31.107).
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
