Workers' views on involving significant others in occupational health care: a focus group study among workers with a chronic disease.

According to interviewed workers, engagement of SOs in occupational health care can help workers with a chronic disease in their recovery and return to work. However, they felt it is important to take SO characteristics and the worker's circumstances and preferences into account, and to balance the potential benefits and drawbacks of involving SOs.Implications for rehabilitationThis study suggests that the worker's re-integration process could benefit from informing significant others about the return to work plans, involving them in decision-making, and explicitly discussing how the significant other can support the worker.Occupational health physicians have an important role in informing workers about the possibility and potential benefits of involving their significant others in the re-integration process.The involvement of a significant other in the re-integration process needs to be tailored to the specific situation of the individual worker, taking into account the preferences of both the worker and significant other.Findings suggest that it is important that occupational health physicians, workers and significant others are not only aware of the possible benefits of significant other involvement, but also of potential drawbacks such as interference during consultations, overburdening significant others, and significant others providing unwanted support.