The Influence of Social Support and Social Integration Factors on Return to Work Outcomes for Individuals with Work-Related Injuries: A Systematic Review.
Codi White, Rebecca A Green, Samantha Ferguson and 4 others
PMID 30671774WHAT IT FOUND
No eligible studies tested social support interventions.
Injured workers said timely communication, trust, belief that the injury was real, and positive reactions made return to work easier. Poor communication, judgement, exclusion, and indifference made it harder.
Key findings
01Injured workers in eleven qualitative studies reported seven social facilitators and five social barriers.
02Twelve quantitative studies found ten of twelve had at least one social factor predicting return to work, but heterogeneity limits conclusions.
03No eligible studies tested interventions aimed at increasing social support or social integration for return to work.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Eleven qualitative studies and twelve quantitative studies were included, so the evidence base was small. No eligible intervention studies were found, so the review cannot say whether social interventions improve return to work. Most quantitative studies were observational, and no randomised trials were eligible, so causality cannot be inferred. Studies used different measures of social support and different return-to-work outcomes, so comparison is difficult. Low-quality studies were included, so some findings may be affected by bias. The review combined different injury types, so differences within specific populations may be obscured.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that social support interventions improve return to work. The review found no eligible intervention studies, so it could not test whether such interventions work.