| Year Funded: 2010 | Budget: | Funding Agency: Institute for Work & Health (IWH) |
|---|---|---|
| Title: | Work Incapacity and Vocational Rehabilitation (IWH Project 2140) | |
| Category: | Compensation, Disability Management and Return to Work | |
| Subcategory: | Compensation, Disability Management and Return to Work | |
| Keywords: | return to work, work disability, vocational rehabilitation | |
| Link to research website: | www.iwh.on.ca | |
Issue:
When it is not possible, or seems unlikely, that an injured worker will return to their pre-injury occupation, workers’ compensation agencies provide vocational rehabilitation services to support reintegration in the labour force. Vocational rehabilitation programs typically provide training in new occupational skills and some degree of employment placement services. Many vocational rehabilitation programs do not achieve high rates of successful outcomes. A recent performance audit of workers’’ compensation vocational rehabilitation outcomes in Ontario’s found that 44% of workers completing a vocational rehabilitation program had obtained employment. To support performance improvements in vocational rehabilitation programs, this project will examine characteristics of workers and characteristics of vocational rehabilitation services that are associated with successful program outcomes.
Objectives:
The goals of this project are:
• to identify characteristics of workers that indicate suitability for referral to vocational rehabilitation services,
• to determine if there are modifiable characteristics of disabled workers that may improve suitability for vocational rehabilitation,
• to identify differences in vocational rehabilitation outcomes that are associated with geographic region and with characteristics of vocational rehabilitation services.
Anticipated Results:
The development of this project has benefited from the contributions of WSIB staff who have been leading the reform of vocational rehabilitation services for workers’ compensation beneficiaries in Ontario. The results of this study will be of interest to policy makers in provincial workers’ compensation agencies, employers, health care providers and disability insurance plan administrators.
Investigators:
Jason Busse, Cameron Mustard (Institute for Work & Health), Gordon Guyatt (McMaster University)
