Perceived Injustice as a Determinant of the Severity of Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms Following Occupational Injury.
Antonina Pavilanis, Manon Truchon, Marie Achille and 2 others
PMID 35852696WHAT IT FOUND
In 187 workers off duty after injury, stronger feelings of unfairness were linked to worse post-traumatic stress symptoms over 6 weeks.
Women reported more severe pain and stress symptoms. This does not prove injustice caused symptoms.
Key findings
01Perceived injustice predicted the severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms after accounting for pain, injury characteristics and pain catastrophizing.
02Early changes in perceived injustice predicted later changes in stress symptoms, and early changes in stress symptoms predicted later changes in perceived injustice.
03At enrolment, women reported more severe pain and more severe post-traumatic stress symptoms than men.
STILL TO COME
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What it does not show
Stress symptoms were assessed by self-report questionnaire, not by diagnostic interview, so participants above the cut score were not confirmed to have PTSD. All participants were working full time prior to the current period of work absence and were receiving salary indemnity from a work injury insurer, so the findings may not apply to other injured workers. Follow-up was 6 weeks, and the study did not test an intervention. The unique contribution of perceived injustice to later stress symptom change was modest. Several condition-related, treatment-related and contextual factors that influence recovery were not assessed. Participants were recruited from 24 physiotherapy clinics and Facebook, and complex injuries such as fracture, closed head injury, laceration or organ damage were excluded.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by Institut de Recherche Robert-Sauvé en Santé et en Sécurité du Travail and Canada Research Chairs.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing perceived injustice will reduce stress symptoms. The study measured associations over 6 weeks and did not test an intervention.