Return-to-work experiences: prior to receiving vocational services.

PURPOSE

Injured workers can experience a myriad of difficulties while attempting workplace reintegration and, in some cases, problems encountered result in workers being unable to take up employment opportunities and/or maintain employment gains. This project aimed to discover what injured workers report as being the reason for their not pursuing and/or leaving post-injury work opportunities.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews inquiring about participant's (N = 150) return-to-work experiences following an occupational injury resulting in an impairment that limited their ability to perform their past work.

RESULTS

Findings indicate that although reasons cited for the loss of employment gains included physiological body function, the ability to perform work-related tasks and actions and personal factors, the most commonly referenced barriers by far were environmental in nature. Depending on where the worker was within the return-to-work process, the regularity with which each of the types of environmental factors was mentioned varied considerably.

CONCLUSIONS

The finding that environmental factors are considered the most common stumbling blocks is positive in that these are arguably some of the most amenable to intervention.