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Work Disability Evaluation

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Handbook of Vocational Rehabilitation and Disability Evaluation

Part of the book series: Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability ((SHHDW))

Abstract

In this chapter, we describe how the evaluation of work disability is carried out in social insurance institutions in Europe. Work disability evaluation is necessary in two different situations with different aims. One is to find the best return-to-work process for employees who are absent from work due to health problems. The other is to decide on claims for short- and long-term benefits, like sickness benefits or disability benefits. In vocational rehabilitation, the emphasis lies on return-to-work processes, while the social insurance institutions traditionally have focused on the eligibility of claims. A comparison between these two aims is done. For both aims, the ICF can provide social security with a consistent framework for description and assessment of functional abilities. It can also provide a taxonomy that can improve interprofessional communication in evaluation procedures in social insurance institutions.

We describe a generic EUMASS Core Set for the assessment of functional abilities in disability claims, and how it has been developed and tested. With examples from Sweden, Iceland, and Norway, we also describe how ICF has been implemented at various levels in social insurance and in vocational rehabilitation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Severely ill claimants often can be granted long-term benefits without comprehensive evaluation, for example, permanently hospitalized, terminally ill, or severely injured patients. The claimants are granted benefits solely on the basis of the severity and prognosis of their illness.

  2. 2.

    The members of the EUMASS working group for ICF collaborated in the development of the core set: Wout de Boer, Ljiljana Bojičová, Søren Brage, Herina Brandtzæg, Peter Donceel, Freddy Falez, Maarit Gockel, Martine Gouello, Brigitte Heuls-Bernin, André Ingenbleek, Radomir Kučera, Jiři Kutina, Clement Leech, Gert Lindenger, Ferenc Moricz, Elisabeth Nüchtern, Christian Puppinck, Paul Stidolph, Hana Trnkócy, Annette de Wind.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit, Directorate for Labour and Welfare, Oslo, Norway

    Sören Brage

  2. VIRK Rehabilitation Fund, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Ása Dóra Konráðsdóttir

  3. Main Office, Swedish Social Insurance Agency, Stockholm, Sweden

    Gert Lindenger

Authors
  1. Sören Brage
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  2. Ása Dóra Konráðsdóttir
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  3. Gert Lindenger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sören Brage .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA

    Reuben Escorpizo

  2. Research Unit, Directorate for Labour and Welfare, Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Sören Brage

  3. Department of Rehabilitation and Counsel, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wisconsin, USA

    Debra Homa

  4. Department of Health Sciences and Health Policy, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Luzern, Switzerland

    Gerold Stucki

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Brage, S., Konráðsdóttir, Á.D., Lindenger, G. (2015). Work Disability Evaluation. In: Escorpizo, R., Brage, S., Homa, D., Stucki, G. (eds) Handbook of Vocational Rehabilitation and Disability Evaluation. Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08825-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08825-9_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08824-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08825-9

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