Representations: An Important Key to Understanding Workers’ Coping Behaviors During Rehabilitation and the Return-to-Work Process

Coutu, Marie‐France; Baril, Raymond; Durand, Marie-José; Côté, Daniel; Rouleau, Annick

doi:10.1007/s10926-007-9089-9

Cited by 31 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 118 publications

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“…Return to work can be considered as a complex multifactorial process [20,21] which can also be characterised as a dynamic interactive problemsolving process including the worker and the social and material work environment within a specific socio-cultural context [22]. This implies that in order to better understand the workers' capacities to deal with difficulties in work functioning and in full return-to-work processes, we first need to gather information about cognitions, emotions and behaviour during these processes.…”

Section: Research Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the return-to-work process for workers partially returned to work and partially on long-term sick leave due to common mental disorders: a qualitative study

Noordik

Nieuwenhuijsen

Varekamp

et al. 2011

Disability and Rehabilitation

103

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Section: Research Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the return-to-work process for workers partially returned to work and partially on long-term sick leave due to common mental disorders: a qualitative study

Noordik

Nieuwenhuijsen

Varekamp

et al. 2011

Disability and Rehabilitation

103

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show abstract

“…To date, how the beliefs of other non-medical stakeholders might influence an injured worker’s fear avoidance and RTW behaviour have not been explored. Experts have called for studies to decentralize the individual's perspective of injury and relocate it in a broader context of collective experiences [19]. Drawing on the perspectives of key stakeholders, in this paper we investigate the wider social context of the injured worker including the beliefs of key people in it, which may influence fear avoidance and RTW behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fear of (re)injury and return to work following compensable injury: qualitative insights from key stakeholders in Victoria, Australia

et al. 2017

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BackgroundReturn to work (RTW) is important for recovery post-injury. Fear of (re)injury is a strong predictor of delayed RTW, and therefore much attention has been given to addressing injured workers’ fear beliefs. However, RTW is a socially-negotiated process and it may be important to consider the wider social context of the injured worker, including the beliefs of the key people involved in their RTW journey.MethodsThis paper involves data collected as part of a wider study in which semi-structured interviews explored RTW from the perspectives of 93 key stakeholders: injured workers, GPs, employers and insurance case managers in Victoria, Australia. Inductive analysis of interview transcripts identified fear of (re)injury as a salient theme across all stakeholder groups. This presented an opportunity to analyse how the wider social context of the injured worker may influence fear and avoidance behaviour. Two co-authors performed inductive analysis of the theme ‘fear of (re)injury’. Codes identified in the data were grouped into five categories. Between and within category analysis revealed three themes describing the contextual factors that may influence fear avoidance and RTW behaviour.ResultsTheme one described how injured workers engaged in a process of weighing up the risk of (re)injury in the workplace against the perceived benefits of RTW. Theme two described how workplace factors could influence an injured workers’ perception of the risk of (re)injury in the workplace, including confidence that the source of the injury had been addressed, the availability and suitability of alternative duties. Theme three described other stakeholders’ reluctance to accept injured workers back at work because of the fear that they might reinjure themselves.ConclusionsOur findings illustrate the need for a contextualised perspective of fear avoidance and RTW behaviour that includes the beliefs of other important people surrounding the injured worker (e.g. employers, family members, GPs). Existing models of health behaviour such as The Health Beliefs Model may provide useful frameworks for interventions targeting the affective, cognitive, social, organisational and policy factors that can influence fear avoidance or facilitate RTW following injury.

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“…Quantitative research shows that the medical seriousness of the disorder, work-related factors, personal factors, national compensation policies, and the structure of the healthcare system determine whether sick leave results in return to or withdrawal from the labor market (7,(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). While quantitative studies are useful for investigating general predictors for RTW and the effects of RTW interventions, they are not suitable for capturing the complex processes characterizing RTW.…”

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confidence: 99%

Meta-synthesis of qualitative research on return to work among employees with common mental disorders

Andersen¹,

Nielsen²,

Brinkmann

2011

Scand J Work Environ Health

203

231

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Andersen MF, Nielsen KM, Brinkmann S. Meta-synthesis of qualitative research on return to work among employees with common mental disorders. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2012;38(2):93-104. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3257Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate which opportunities and obstacles employees with common mental disorders (CMD) experience in relation to return to work (RTW) and how they perceive the process of returning to work. In addition, the study explores what characterizes an optimal RTW intervention and points to possible ways to improve future interventions for employees with CMD.Methods A systematic literature search was conducted, and eight qualitative studies of medium or high quality published between 1995-2011 were included in this systematic review. The eight studies were synthesized using the meta-ethnographic method.Results This meta-synthesis found that employees with CMD identify a number of obstacles to and facilitators of returning to work related to their own personality, social support at the workplace, and the social and rehabilitation systems. The employees found it difficult to decide when they were ready to resume work and experienced difficulties implementing RTW solutions at the workplace. ConclusionsThis study reveals that the RTW process should be seen as a continuous and coherent one where experiences of the past and present and anticipation of the future are dynamically interrelated and affect the success or failure of RTW. The meta-synthesis also illuminates insufficient coordination between the social and rehabilitation systems and suggests how an optimal RTW intervention could be designed.

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Representations: An Important Key to Understanding Workers’ Coping Behaviors During Rehabilitation and the Return-to-Work Process

Abstract: Bridging the gap between these disciplines will help us achieve a new level of knowledge that will, by taking social interactions into account, enhance understanding of workers' representations, and the behaviors they adopt to manage their MSD-related disability.

Cited by 31 publications

References 118 publications

Exploring the return-to-work process for workers partially returned to work and partially on long-term sick leave due to common mental disorders: a qualitative study

Exploring the return-to-work process for workers partially returned to work and partially on long-term sick leave due to common mental disorders: a qualitative study

Fear of (re)injury and return to work following compensable injury: qualitative insights from key stakeholders in Victoria, Australia

Meta-synthesis of qualitative research on return to work among employees with common mental disorders

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