The new research centre UGOT-ReWork (Centre for Interdisciplinary Primary Care Research on Return to Work) is establishing at the Institute of Medicine under the leadership of Professor Maria Åberg as project manager, with deputy project manager Elisabeth Björk Brämberg.
With SEK 50 million in funding from Forte, researchers will collaborate with primary care, government agencies, occupational health services, and patient organisations to develop new practices that provide better support for individuals on sick leave to return to work. UGOT-ReWork is one of eleven research centres in Sweden to receive long-term funding from Forte.
Gustav Kjellsson, Supervisor at the Centre of Health Governance, is co-applicant and researcher within UGOT-ReWork. We asked him a few questions about his role in the centre and the opportunities he sees ahead.
Research on healthcare organisation and the sickness absence process
Gustav’s research focuses on how organisational and economic factors within healthcare influence the sickness absence process, and thereby the likelihood that patients can return to work.
- To understand how we can help more people return to work sustainably, we need to analyse the intersection between how the labour market functions, the design of the sickness insurance system, and the organisation of healthcare, he says.
Analysing variation and success factors
A key part of Gustav’s work involves using quantitative register data to analyse why some healthcare units or physicians are more successful than others in supporting patients’ return to work.
- My own research interest is to use quantitative register studies to better understand the doctor’s role in the sickness certification process and to identify successful strategies that help more people return to work. Are some physicians or care units more successful than others — and if so, why? These questions relate to research I have conducted on primary care over the past decade, he says.
Interdisciplinarity is essential
UGOT-ReWork is led by medical researchers, but Gustav emphasises that social science perspectives are a key part of the whole.
- The new research centre UGOT-ReWork addresses questions that are highly relevant for many researchers at the School of Business, Economics and Law, not least economists, he says.
As Supervisor of the Centre for Health Governance, Gustav also sees opportunities for a broader group of researchers from the centre to contribute expertise in governance, incentives, and healthcare organisation.
Strengthening connections across research fields
Gustav hopes the centre will create more opportunities for collaboration between different research communities.
- Above all, I hope the centre will strengthen the connections between economists with an interest in labour markets, healthcare, mental health, and social insurance, and medical expertise with experience in occupational and general medicine, he says.
