Return to Work Experiences of Ontario Public Safety Personnel with Work-Related Psychological Injuries.
Megan Edgelow, Kathleen Legassick, Jessica Novecosky and 1 others
PMID 37022655WHAT IT FOUND
Ontario public safety personnel with psychological injury claims described stigma, confusing compensation systems and unsupportive employers as major barriers.
They valued occupational therapy when it was practical, community based and linked to coping and return to work.
Key findings
01Of 145 participants, 60% had seen an occupational therapist and 61% had seen a psychologist.
02Stigma (n = 52, 36%) and system navigation (n = 43, 30%) were among the most frequently cited barriers to return to work.
03Participants valued occupational therapy when it was in person, community based and linked to coping skills and tangible return to work aspects.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was a self-report web survey, so responses depend on what participants chose to say and how they interpreted the questions. The researchers could not estimate how many people were invited, so it is unclear who saw the survey and who did not. Only 145 responses met the criteria; 87 did not meet the inclusion criteria and 90 did not answer beyond demographics. The sample was mainly white men and mainly paramedics and career firefighters, so other PSP groups may be underrepresented. The survey ran during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have affected access to services and experiences of return to work. The study describes experiences and self-reported return-to-work status; it does not compare groups or measure whether any treatment caused improvement.
Declared interests
The paper states funding from the Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation. No other conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that occupational therapy improves return to work. It is a self-report survey of experiences, with no comparison group and no measured treatment effect.