PhD defence: Anne Grøndahl Poulsen
Interaction between GPs and sickness benefit offices often works well, but is challenged in complex sickness absence cases
Info about event
Time
Location
Auditorium, MarselisborgParken
On Friday 18 September 2026, Anne Grøndahl Poulsen defends her PhD dissertation entitled “Interaction between General Practice and Sickness Benefit Offices in Return to Work Processes”.
Interaction between general practitioners and municipal sickness benefit offices is often described as difficult. New research presents a more nuanced picture: interaction generally functions adequately in straightforward sickness absence cases, while challenges become more apparent in complex cases that require greater dialogue and shared understanding.
When a person is on sickness absence, both the general practitioner and the municipal sickness benefit office play important roles. However, they operate within different professional, organisational and legislative frameworks and therefore depend on the exchange of relevant knowledge across organisational boundaries.
The PhD project examines how this interaction works in practice. It comprises an international scoping review and two qualitative studies based on interviews with general practitioners, municipal case workers, general practice consultants, and managers from sickness benefit offices.
The findings show that interaction largely takes place through written medical certificates. This mode of interaction generally functions adequately in straightforward sickness absence cases. In more complex cases, however, written communication may be insufficient because greater dialogue, clarification and shared understanding between the involved parties are needed.
The project also shows that interaction at the organisational level is taking place between sickness benefit offices and general practice to support frontline interaction. These activities primarily focus on maintaining and improving existing forms of interaction, including the use of medical certificates. More developmental forms of interaction occur less frequently and are often dependent on local initiatives and relationships.
The summary is written by the PhD student.
The defence is public and takes place in Auditorium, MarselisborgParken. Please see the press release for more information.
Contact
PhD student Anne Grøndahl Poulsen
Mail: anne.poulsen@rm.dk
Phone: 40756865