Wellbeing After Finalization of a Workers' Compensation Claim: A Systematic Scoping Review.

No included study directly measured overall wellbeing, so the review had to infer it from related outcomes such as work, health, money and relationships. Most included claims were defined by permanent impairment or disability, so short claims and workers who recovered fully may be underrepresented. The review was a scoping review, so it describes available evidence rather than proving that claim finalization caused poor outcomes. Most articles came from North America, so results may not match other compensation systems. Critical appraisal did not provide a quality grade, so study quality was not used to weight the findings. The search was limited to English-language studies and a limited set of hand searching and online sources. The included articles were dominated by a small number of research teams and authors. There was little consideration of injured workers' lived experience, beliefs and attitudes after claim finalization.

The paper states the funder as Curtin University. No other conflict-of-interest statement is provided.

Do not read this review as proof that every injured worker will have poor wellbeing after a claim ends. Most included claims were defined by permanent impairment or disability, and no study directly measured overall wellbeing, so the evidence describes a high-risk subgroup using related outcomes.