John Langley, Rebbecca Lilley, Ari Samaranayaka, Sarah Derrett1. 1. School of Health and Social Services, College of Health, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand. s.l.derrett@massey.ac.nz.
Abstract
AIM: To describe work and disability trajectories over 12 months following injury among workers. METHODS: Workers injured at work or elsewhere (n=2626) were sourced from the Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study, a longitudinal cohort study in New Zealand, with the primary objective of identifying factors associated with disability following injury. Work and disability status was assessed at 3- and 12-months post injury. The measure of disability was the brief WHODAS II 12-item instrument. Participants were dichotomised into 'disability' or 'no disability' groups based on whether their WHODAS score was greater than, or equal to, 10. In terms of 12-month work status, there are 16 different scenarios. These were grouped into 4 categories: sustained work (SW), delayed return to work (RTW), non-sustained RTW, and sustained off-work. RESULTS: We had complete information for 1975 workers. The largest group (68%) was SW, 32% of which had disability at either time point. The second largest group consisted of 17% of workers who were classified as delayed RTW, 76% of whom were disabled at either time point. Among the non-sustained RTW group (7%), 52% had disability at either time point. Of the sustained off-work group (8%), 80% were disabled at either 3- or 12-months. CONCLUSION: Although return to work is a useful provider performance indicator of injury compensation and rehabilitation it is inadequate from a wider societal perspective and needs to be complemented by other important outcome measures such as disability status.
AIM: To describe work and disability trajectories over 12 months following injury among workers. METHODS: Workers injured at work or elsewhere (n=2626) were sourced from the Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study, a longitudinal cohort study in New Zealand, with the primary objective of identifying factors associated with disability following injury. Work and disability status was assessed at 3- and 12-months post injury. The measure of disability was the brief WHODAS II 12-item instrument. Participants were dichotomised into 'disability' or 'no disability' groups based on whether their WHODAS score was greater than, or equal to, 10. In terms of 12-month work status, there are 16 different scenarios. These were grouped into 4 categories: sustained work (SW), delayed return to work (RTW), non-sustained RTW, and sustained off-work. RESULTS: We had complete information for 1975 workers. The largest group (68%) was SW, 32% of which had disability at either time point. The second largest group consisted of 17% of workers who were classified as delayed RTW, 76% of whom were disabled at either time point. Among the non-sustained RTW group (7%), 52% had disability at either time point. Of the sustained off-work group (8%), 80% were disabled at either 3- or 12-months. CONCLUSION: Although return to work is a useful provider performance indicator of injury compensation and rehabilitation it is inadequate from a wider societal perspective and needs to be complemented by other important outcome measures such as disability status.
Authors: Sarah Derrett; Emma H Wyeth; Amy Richardson; Gabrielle Davie; Ari Samaranayaka; Rebbecca Lilley; Helen Harcombe Journal: Methods Protoc Date: 2021-05-17