Study on IWH accommodation tool for workers with episodic disabilities wins award

In the Spring of 2023, a new Institute for Work & Health (IWH) tool was launched to help workers with chronic conditions and episodic disabilities. The Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT) helps users identify job supports that they can implement—on their own or with their supervisor’s approval—to allow them to keep working without having to disclose their health condition.

Now, a study that assessed the tool’s design has won the Dr. Michael Feuerstein Best Paper Award from the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation.

This study was our first to evaluate the JDAPT after it was developed, says Dr. Monique Gignac, IWH scientific director and senior scientist and project director of Accommodating and Communicating about Episodic Disabilities (ACED), the research partnership that developed the JDAPT. We were excited to find that workers with different types of health conditions and jobs, as well as those providing support within organizations like supervisors, human resource professionals, and disability managers, found the JDAPT helpful.

Every year, the editorial board of the journal awards a study that has an original and relevant topic, high quality research design and methodology, and the potential to make a lasting impact to the field of occupational rehabilitation and work disability prevention.

Our multidisciplinary research and partnership team wanted the JDAPT to be an innovative resource that was relevant to large numbers of people, says Gignac. The Michael Feuerstein Best Paper Award from the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation means a great deal to us. Peer-review assessment is the mainstay of research. Recognition of the JDAPT as original and having the potential to impact occupational rehabilitation and work disability prevention is a tremendous incentive for us to keep addressing this area with new research and resources.

Read the study: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-022-10057-4

Learn more about the JDAPT: https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/iwh-launches-tool-to-help-workers-with-chronic-conditions-find-job-tailored-accommodations