Return to work for people with chronic health conditions after medical or vocational rehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.

PURPOSE: This review aimed to identify factors that acted as facilitators or barriers for returning to work (RTW) for people with chronic conditions following medical or vocational rehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A scoping review was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCOHost and Epistemonikos. Additional articles were identified via Google Scholar and citation tracking. All retrieved reports were screened, narratively reported and consolidated into a model aligned with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). This model illustrates how the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced RTW for people with chronic health conditions. RESULTS: The search yielded n = 1,720 hits. After removing duplicates (n = 807) and screening for eligibility, n = 57 articles met the inclusion criteria. Further articles were identified via Google Scholar (n = 23) and citation tracking (n = 18), resulting in a total number of n = 98 included reports. n = 3 articles explicitly examined RTW during the pandemic. Further articles addressed medical rehabilitation (n = 39), occupational health management (n = 21), work ability and labor market (n = 17), health services (n = 10) and vocational rehabilitation (n = 7). Most reports were published in scientific journals (83%). A variety of possible barriers and facilitators of RTW during the pandemic were identified, clustered according to the ICF components and integrated into a corresponding model. CONCLUSION: RTW during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been extensively studied yet. However, several facilitators (e.g., flexibility, remote work, time for recovery) but also barriers (e.g., therapy interruptions, increased stress, risk of infection) for RTW of people with chronic health conditions were identified. Despite mixed outcomes, these findings provide a broad overview of how the pandemic likely impacted RTW processes. Further research is needed to directly assess its effects on RTW outcomes.