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Measurement of Return to Work and Stay at Work Outcomes

  • Chapter
Handbook of Return to Work

Part of the book series: Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability ((SHHDW,volume 1))

Abstract

Millions of dollars are spent every year on interventions to help injured workers return to work. Treatment success is judged upon operational and functional criteria, centering on the specific behavioral outcomes of return to work and work retention. This chapter discusses the ways in which these outcomes can be measured in patients with musculoskeletal injuries, and other factors that may influence them. Measurements of work status, sickness absence, disability benefits, recurrence of illness or injury, work ability, and productivity are compared. In addition, examination of the impact of social insurance programs and entitlements demonstrates that the incentives and disincentives for return to work provided by the socioeconomic structure of the disability and rehabilitation system should be considered when choosing an appropriate measure of return to work. Finally, measures of return to work in clinical populations other than musculoskeletal injuries are discussed; best measures of return to work vary with the population being studied. Ultimately, it is important that health professionals accept the need to continue to define and document behavioral outcomes in their attempts to return injured or medically ill workers back to employability and functionality.

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Abbreviations

SSDI:

Social security disability insurance

SSI:

Supplemental security income

HIPAA:

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

FCE:

Functional capacity evaluation

WAI:

Work ability index

WLQ:

Work limitation questionnaire

SPS:

Stanford presenteeism scale

HPQ:

Health and work performance questionnaire

LEAPS:

Lam employment absence and productivity scale

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington, Life Science Building, Room 313, 501 Nedderman Drive, 19528, Arlington, TX, 96019, USA

    Emily Brede, Farukh Ikram, Sali R. Asih & Matthew T. Knauf

  2. Department of Psychology, Texas State University, San Marcos, 601 University Drive, 214-C, San Marcos, TX, 78666, USA

    Krista Howard

  3. International Department, Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims, Borgergade 13, 2101, 1014, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Peter B. Polatin

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  1. Emily Brede
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  2. Farukh Ikram
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  3. Krista Howard
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  4. Sali R. Asih
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  5. Matthew T. Knauf
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  6. Peter B. Polatin
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Correspondence to Krista Howard .

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  1. and Special Education, Dept. Edu. and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education, VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada

    Izabela Z. Schultz

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA

    Robert J. Gatchel

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Brede, E., Ikram, F., Howard, K., Asih, S.R., Knauf, M.T., Polatin, P.B. (2016). Measurement of Return to Work and Stay at Work Outcomes. In: Schultz, I., Gatchel, R. (eds) Handbook of Return to Work. Handbooks in Health, Work, and Disability, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7627-7_11

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