| Summary: | Background: Taking sick leave (SL) for long-term musculoskeletal pain (MSP), predominantly in the neck, shoulders and back, is common among women in Sweden. Long-term MSP affects their daily life and causes impaired work ability and long-term SL. Therefore, it is necessary to work from a multidimensional perspective to generate knowledge about factors that may obstruct or promote work ability and well-being in the return-to-work (RTW) process among women on SL for MSP. The aim of the thesis was to identify factors of importance for work ability, well-being and RTW among women on SL for long-term neck/shoulder and/or back pain. Methods: Study I is a narrative systematic review. An extensive systematic search was performed through the databases Medline, CINAHL and PsycINFO, from their inception until February 2016. The inclusion criteria for the articles were: study population of men and women aged 18-65 years, work absence ≥ 2 weeks, and neck/shoulder or back pain. The outcome variable was RTW. An additional search through reference lists and citations of the included articles was performed in Scopus. A total of 10 studies were selected for the methodological quality assessment and synthesis of the results. Data were synthesized through analysis of the content according to similarities of factors. For Study II-IV, a postal survey was sent to 600 women in central and northern Sweden who were receiving time-loss benefits during the spring of 2016. The inclusion criteria were women aged 18-65 years, ≥ 50% SL from service, SL ≥ 1 month due to neck/shoulder and/or back pain (≥ 3 months), and understanding the Swedish language. The exclusion criteria were rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, stroke, cancer, Parkinson, bipolar disease, schizophrenia, and pregnancy. A follow-up survey was sent out in spring 2017 to the 208 women who answered the survey at baseline; 141 responded. Study II was cross-sectional; a multiple linear regression was conducted to determine the association between the factors and work ability ...
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