Sickness absence culture: A Scoping Review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Several studies have reported significant variations in sickness absence rates between comparable cohorts of employees, which by some authors have been attributed to sickness absence cultures. A sickness absence culture represents the shared absence-related norms and behaviors within a workgroup. Even when controlling for factors associated with sickness absence, there are still unexplained variations. To our knowledge, there are no systematic reviews on the concept of sickness absence culture. We conducted a scoping review to identify and map existing knowledge on sickness absence culture. We also investigated what methods and designs were used. Methods: We searched the following electronic databases for studies on sickness absence culture and related phenomena: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Clarivate Web of Science, and Bielefeld Academic Search Engine. Both abstract and full-text screening was conducted by two independent reviewers. Data extraction was conducted jointly by the two reviewers. The final stage of the review included a narrative synthesis. The review was conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. Results: The final review consisted of 29 studies. In terms of design, the majority of included studies were categorized as observational quantitative. Ten of the included studies attempted to measure sickness absence culture directly with survey questions. None of these studies utilized the same scales for assessing sickness absence culture, which indicates a lack of standardized measurement for sickness absence culture. Eight of the included studies suggested sickness absence culture as an explanation for observed variations in sickness absence rates, without having measured sickness absence culture directly. Conclusions: The concept of sickness absence culture could be a useful explanation for the observed unexplained variations in sickness absence rates. However, further research is warranted to determine the effect of sickness absence culture on sickness absence rates, and to develop standardized measures of sickness absence and sickness absence culture.