Identification of factors that support return to work following work-related injury

Abstract

This study sought to illuminate workers’ experience as they returned to work following a serious work injury and the co-worker, supervisor, and employer actions that supported their return. Workers in Saskatchewan, Canada, with a work-related psychological or musculoskeletal injury, subsequent disability, and returned to work in the last three years, were invited to complete an online survey comprising of free-text questions. This study was conducted in cooperation with the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (SWCB). To be eligible to participate in the study a worker was required to have a ‘serious injury’, defined as a psychological injury or an injury with at least 50 days of partial or total disablity. They were also required to have returned to work following injury. All attended a rehabilitation program involving two to eight hours of intervention per day, for two to five days per week, and had been deemed ready to return to work by the rehabilitation provider and successfully returned to work between January 31, 2020 and January 31, 2023. The study received a favourable ethical opinion from the ethics sub-committee of the Mental Health and Clinical Neuroscience Academic Unit, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, UK. The SWCB sent eligible individuals (N=2,035) a letter inviting their voluntary and anonymous participation. Informed consent to participate was provided by participants reading the SWCB invitation, accessing the survey website, reviewing the participant information sheet online and clicking the link to participate. No personally-identifiable information was solicited from participants.