Plain-language summaries
Institute for Work & Health (IWH) plain-language summaries condense research findings in various formats. At Work articles explain study results with comments from the study leads. Research Highlights summarize journal articles in easy-to-read, digest formats. Sharing Best Evidence summaries highlight findings from systematic reviews and other types of reviews conducted or led by IWH researchers. Issue Briefings discuss key research findings from IWH or elsewhere on topics that are of particular interest to policy-makers.
At Work article
Flexible work in the high-tech sector: does it really meet workers’ needs?
Published:
Research Highlights
Workers with back injuries show four recovery patterns
People with back injuries may experience different patterns of recovery. Knowing how people recover may help clinicians who treat patients with back injuries.
Published:
Research Highlights
Disability management programs differ greatly in Ontario health-care sector
Health-care workers are more likely to miss work because of illness and disability than workers in other sectors. This study compares disability management practices across four types of health-care workplaces: hospitals, nursing homes, private clinics and community clinics.
Published:
Research Highlights
Youth injury rates vary across Ontario regions
A study examining work injury rates for 15- to 24-year-olds in 46 regions across Ontario finds great variation rates among young workers vary greatly across the province.
Published:
Research Highlights
Study finds hospital costs for injured sawmill workers
A portion of health-care costs among injured sawmill workers in British Columbia are not reimbursed by the provincial workers' compensation agency, suggesting that prevention efforts could target the more costly injuries to reduce hospital costs.
Published:
Research Highlights
Decline in lost-time claims is linked to drop in hazardous jobs
An overall decline in workers' compensation lost-time claim rates in Ontario from 1990 to 2003, partly explained by decreases in the industrial sectors of the number of people working in manual jobs.
Published:
Research Highlights
“Passive” coping may slow whiplash recovery
Passive coping strategies—for example, withdrawing from social activities due to pain or hoping for better pain medications—slow down recovery for people with whiplash, particularly those who also have depressive symptoms.
Published:
Research Highlights
Whiplash after traffic accidents can lead to depression
Symptoms of depression appear to be relatively common after whiplash injury. They occur soon after the incident and can be persistent, especially if patients have a history of depressive symptoms.
Published:
Research Highlights
Fitness training, rehabilitation don’t improve whiplash recovery
Rehabilitation programs such as fitness training, exercises and weight training are no better than the usual care to help patients recover from whiplash.
Published:
Research Highlights
What are the main causes of hospitalization in sawmill workers?
A study of a large sample of sawmill workers from 1989 to 1997 finds falls and machinery are the main causes of injuries, but also that injury rates have been on the decline since 1994.
Published:
Research Highlights
Work setting, hazards are key injury risk factors for youth
When it comes to injury risk among teenaged and young adult workers, the type of job or workplace matters more than the nature of the young workers themselves.
Published:
Research Highlights
Early aggressive care delays recovery after whiplash, study confirms
Too much health care too early after a whiplash injury has a negative affect on a patient's recovery, a study finds. It confirms that the results of an earlier study are not due to chance.
Published:
Research Highlights
Women, young workers, minorities are more likely to be “underemployed”
Some social groups are more likely than others to be affected negatively by changes in the labour market. What's more, these groups are also more susceptible to negative health effects of the insecurities that arise with these changes.
Published: