Help! I Need Somebody: Help-Seeking Among Workers with Self-Reported Work-Related Mental Disorders

PURPOSE

Worker mental health has emerged as one of the most significant challenges in contemporary workplaces. Knowing what intervention is effective is important to help workers adapt to mental health disorders but connecting workers to helpful resources is just as important and perhaps more of a challenge. With the multiple stakeholders involved, mental health disorders arising in the workplace pose specific challenges to help-seeking. The present study sought to explore the lived experience of workers and the personal and contextual influences on help-seeking among workers with work-related mental health disorders.

METHODS

A qualitative methodology was employed utilizing purposive sampling to conduct semi-structured interviews with individuals (n = 12) from various occupational backgrounds who had experienced a work-related (self-declared) mental health disorder. A Critical Theory approach was used to inform study design and analysis. Interpretative phenomenological analysis and thematic content analysis were combined to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Three main themes emerged including: (1) self-preservation through injury concealment and distancing themselves from workplace stressors to minimize/avoid internal and external stigma; (2) fatigue relating to complex help-seeking pathways, accumulation of stressors, eroding the worker's ability to make independent decisions regarding supports; and (3) (mis)trust contributed to resources accessed by participants.

CONCLUSIONS

Along with internalized stigma, findings point to the important role of social identity and trust and how these are influenced by relationships and organizational contexts. Findings indicate the need to educate workplace parties such as supervisors on mental health and pathways to help, simplifying pathways to service and removing barriers to help seeking including stigmatizing behaviours. Future quantitative research and intervention development directed at workplace mental health should integrate models and frameworks emphasizing relational and organizational dimensions in help-seeking.

Workers' Worries, Pain, Psychosocial Factors, and Margin of Manoeuvre, in Relation to Outcomes in a Return-to-Work Program: An Exploratory Study

PURPOSE

To explore the intensity and variation of workers' worries, pain, psychosocial factors, and margin of manoeuvre before and after a return-to-work program, and identified the psychosocial factors associated with non-return to work at the end of the rehabilitation program.

METHODS

A pre-post study design was used. A convenience sample of 80 workers starting a return-to-work program and having a compensated musculoskeletal injury that caused an absence of more than three months from their regular work was recruited. Data were collected at baseline and at the end of the rehabilitation program on the nature of the worries and maintenance factors defined in Dugas' generalized anxiety and worry model, using validated questionnaires. The margin of manoeuvre was assessed by the treating occupational therapist. A series of descriptive analyses were performed, as well as Generalized Estimating Equations analyses.

RESULTS

Workers' worries were work-related or disability-related 83% of the time at baseline. These worries were essentially based on the situation then occurring at work 90% of the time. For the Generalized Estimating Equations analyses on work status, the final model was significant, explaining 54% of the variance in non-return to work (Pseudo R2 = 0.54; p = 0.0001). Workers were 8.52 times less likely to return to work when the margin of manoeuvre was insufficient, and twice as likely not to return to work in the presence of intense worry. Worries were significantly associated with insufficient margin of manoeuvre.

CONCLUSION

A strong association between workers' lack of margin of manoeuvre at work and their worries about their return to work, and poor work outcomes, supports the importance of the worker-environment interaction in rehabilitation programs.

"Apping Up": Prospects for Information Technology Innovation in Return to Work Communication

Purpose During return to work (RTW), communication between health care providers and employers largely takes place through standardize paper-based forms. Information technology (IT) platforms may provide advantages in enabling information exchange and decision-making through sharing of guidelines and resources. We investigated stakeholder perspectives on the prospect of IT use for RTW communication in Ontario, Canada. Methods Consistent with the exploratory nature of the questions, qualitative methods were used. Primary data were interviews with health care providers (HCPs), employers, and workers with experience in RTW. The first portion of initial interviews elicited general perspectives and experiences related to RTW communication. Participants were then exposed to a prototype IT communication platform and elicited their feedback. Follow-up interviews with HCP's and EMP's were used to allow further reflection and clarification of data. We used progressive, thematic coding to analyze data. Results 12 HCPs, 7 employers, and 5 workers participated in the study. Five inter-related themes were obtained. Participants expressed no absolute objection to the use of IT for RTW communication but varying degrees of support. Participants revealed how media change depended on a prospective IT innovation's perceived usefulness, fit with current practices, capacity to gain buy-in from other stakeholders, and ability to demonstrate positive performance in actual practice. Conclusions Findings suggest that a transition to an IT-mediated tool for RTW communication is supported in principle; however, major caveats exist in relation to perceived value and fit with stakeholder practice. System support and stakeholder cooperation are likely necessary to adopt the change, yet IT-mediated communication has yet to demonstrate value. To avoid circularity, proof of principal needs to be established through an implementation trial of such technology.

Work, organisational practices, and margin of manoeuver during work reintegration

BACKGROUND

Many individuals of working age experience cardiovascular disease and are disabled from work as a result. The majority of research in cardiac work disability has focused on individual biological and psychological factors influencing work disability despite evidence of the importance of social context in work disability. In this article, the focus is on work and organisational features influencing the leeway (margin of manoeuvre) workers are afforded during work reintegration.

METHODS

A qualitative method was used. A large auto manufacturing plant was selected owing to work, organisational, and worker characteristics. Workplace context was assessed through site visits and meetings with stakeholders including occupational health, human resources and union personnel and a review of collective agreement provisions relating to seniority, benefits and accommodation. Worker experience was assessed using a series of in-depth interviews with workers (n = 12) returning to work at the plant following disabling cardiac illness. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

Workers demonstrated variable levels of adjustment to the workplace that could be related to production expectations and work design. Policies and practices around electronic rate monitoring, seniority and accommodation, and disability management practices affected the buffer available to workers to adjust to the workplace.

CONCLUSIONS

Work qualities and organisational resources establish a margin of manoeuver for work reintegration efforts. Practitioners need to inform themselves of the constraints on work accommodation imposed by work organisation and collective agreements. Organisations and labour need to reconsider policies and practices that creates unequal accommodation conditions for disabled workers. Implications for rehabilitation Margin of manoeuvre offers a framework for evaluating and structuring work reintegration programmes. Assessing initial conditions for productivity expectations, context and ways and means to support work reintegration can be integrated with worker perceptions of work ability and possibilities for adaptation to structure and then monitor work reintegration programmes. Margin of manoeuvre can be used to evaluate sustainability of work at the end of rehabilitation. Cause-based workers' compensation schemes, collective agreement provisions, and organisational approaches to non-compensable disability create two tiers of disabled workers and make certain workers more vulnerable to occupational disability.

Systematic review of qualitative literature on occupational health and safety legislation and regulatory enforcement planning and implementation

OBJECTIVE

The ability of occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation and regulatory enforcement to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses is contingent on political, economic, and organizational conditions. This systematic review of qualitative research articles considers how OHS legislation and regulatory enforcement are planned and implemented.

METHODS

A comprehensive search of peer-reviewed, English-language articles published between 1990 and 2013 yielded 11 947 articles. We identified 34 qualitative articles as relevant, 18 of which passed our quality assessment and proceeded to meta-ethnographic synthesis.

RESULTS

The synthesis yielded four main themes: OHS regulation formation, regulation challenges, inspector organization, and worker representation in OHS. It illuminates how OHS legislation can be based on normative suppositions about worker and employer behavior and shaped by economic and political resources of parties. It also shows how implementation of OHS legislation is affected by "general duty" law, agency coordination, resourcing of inspectorates, and ability of workers to participate in the system.

CONCLUSIONS

The review identifies methodological gaps and identifies promising areas for further research in "grey" zones of legislation implementation.

Elbow flexion strength curves in untrained men and women and male bodybuilders

The influence of elbow joint angle on voluntary isometric elbow flexion strength was assessed in 15 young women (F), 18 young men (M) and 11 male bodybuilders (BB). Measurements were made at elbow joint angles of 1.31, 1.57, 1.83, 2.09, 2.36, 2.62 and 2.88 rad (3.14 rad = 180 degrees = full extension). The peak voluntary strength [mean (SE), N.m] in M [69.5 (4.3)] and BB [93.3 (4.8)] occurred at 2.09 rad (120 degrees), but occurred at 1.57 rad (90 degrees) in F [35.4 (2.4)]. Peak torque at 1.31 rad was 20% and 25% lower than at 2.09 rad in M and BB, respectively, but did not differ between these two angles in F. The larger elbow flexor muscle and fibre size in M and BB may have been responsible for their impaired torque production at joint angles corresponding to the shortest muscle lengths.

Elbow flexor evoked twitch contractile properties in untrained men and women and male bodybuilders

The influence of elbow joint angle on elbow flexor isometric evoked twitch contractile properties was assessed in 15 young women (F), 18 young men (M) and 11 male bodybuilders (BB). Measurements were made at elbow joint angles of 1.31, 1.57, 1.83, 2.09, 2.36, 2.62 and 2.88 rad (3.14 rad = 180 degrees = full extension). The largest peak twitch torque values [mean (SE) N.m] in F [3.77 (0.20)], M [10.38 (0.68)] and BB [11.38 (1.05)] occurred at 2.88 rad. Peak torque was progressively smaller at smaller joint angles, but the decline from 2.88 to 1.31 rad was greater in M (68%) and BB (76%) than F (59%). Thus, the magnitude of intergroup differences in peak twitch torque (PT) was joint angle dependent. Twitch time to peak torque (TPT) was influenced in a complex way by joint angle in the three groups; BB had the lowest values at small joint angles but the highest values at the largest angles. Half-relaxation time (HRT) generally increased from the smallest to largest joint angles in a pattern that did not differ significantly among the three groups. Maximum rates of twitch torque development and relaxation showed the same pattern of results as PT, indicating that these time-related measures were more sensitive to joint angle effects on PT than on TPT or HRT. The results of this study indicate that careful consideration should be given to the selection of joint angles in the measurement of evoked twitch contractile properties for the purpose of making group comparisons or investigating the effects of interventions such as training.