Document directory

Accomplishments Report
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Research Highlights
The Pain Recovery Inventory of Concerns and Expectations (PRICE), is a psychosocial screening questionnaire for workers with low-back pain that can estimate the overall likelihood of quickly recovering and returning to work within three months after injury.
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Research Highlights
The relationship between age and injury varies depending on the type of injury. Older workers, for example, are at higher risk of fractures and dislocations.
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Research Highlights
Return-to-work (RTW) models and policies can be improved by taking into account social relations within a work unit, especially the role of co-workers.
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Research Highlights
Two important factors associated with how long Canadian female nurses stay off of work due to musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) are the level of pain and the extent to which pain interferes with job duties.
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Impact case study
Research by IWH scientist describes problems with previous program and suggests way forward.
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Issue Briefing
This Issue Briefing takes a close look at the design and outcomes of three North American studies and how they inform our understanding of the effectiveness of targeted labour inspections on occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes.
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Annual Report
Engagement: The Institute for Work & Health's 2011 Annual Report
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Impact case study
Work on Canadian opioid guideline in turn leads to development of opioid management tool and helps launch IWH scientist's profile as opioid expert.
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Sharing Best Evidence
This systematic review set out to find what factors affect the length of time it takes before returning to work. The aim was to identify which workers with acute low-back pain are at high risk of long-term absences and, therefore, in need of extra attention to help them recover and return to work more quickly.
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Impact case study
An IWH analysis helps lead to creation of specialized SIEF adjudication team at Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, resulting in millions in savings.
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Issue Briefing
What happened to workers' compensation claim rates in Canada during the 2008-2009 recession? This Issue Briefing looks at the research and confirms that, relative to the long-term trend of declining claim rates in North America, the frequency of workers' compensation claims per hours worked tends to go down during recessions.
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Accomplishments Report
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Archived tools and guides
Three sets of pictograms depict musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) hazards and proper practices in three service sectors: retail, restaurant and greenhouses.
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KTE resources
From September to November 2011, the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) consulted with its stakeholders in Ontario as the foundation for developing a strategic plan for the period 2013-2017. This report summarizes the results of that consultation and related survey.
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Sharing Best Evidence
Little information is available on the effectiveness of workplace programs to target depression. This systematic review set out to provide such information. It searched the research literature to look for interventions for managing depression in the workplace that were effective from an employer's point of view.
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Issue Briefing
The proportion of work-related injuries registered as no-lost-time claims (NLTCs) versus lost-time claims (LTCs) increased in Ontario from 1991 to 2006. Based on research from IWH, this Issue Briefing takes a close look at the characteristics of NLTCs in Ontario and the factors that may help explain their increasing share of workers' compensation claims in the province.
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Annual Report
Informing Policy: The Institute for Work & Health's 2010 Annual Report
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Systematic Review
Steenstra I, Irvin E, Heymans M, Mahood Q, Hogg-Johnson S
This report explores the factors that affect how long it will take workers to return to work following an absence due to acute low-back pain, based upon the results of a systematic review update conducted by the Institute for Work & Health.
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Project report
MacEachen E, Cardoso S, Kosny A, Mansfield L, Keown K
In May 2009, the Institute for Work & Health developed Red Flags/Green Lights: A Guide to Identifying and Solving Return-to-Work Problems to help decision-makers identify and manage return-to-work (RTW) problems. This document reports on a study that evaluated how this guide is being used by various RTW stakeholders.
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Project report
Kosny A, Lifshen M
This is a plain-language report summarizing the findings of an Institute for Work & Health study that explored the experiences of recent immigrants who were injured on the job.
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Impact case study
IWH scientists support the work of the Dean panel with "trusted" and "balanced" research and analysis.
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Sharing Best Evidence
The effectiveness of current knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) practices has not been routinely or consistently evaluated, in part because of a lack of instruments for assessing the impact of KTE activities. This systematic review searched the literature to find instruments that can accurately and reliably measure KTE activities. Although few were found, some showed promise.
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Project report
Kosny A, Lifshen M, MacEachen E, Smith PM, Jafri GJ, Neilson C, Pugliese D, Shields J
The experiences of recent immigrants who are injured on the job, including their knowledge of their rights, encounters with employers and health-care providers, and experiences with injury reporting and claim filing, are detailed in this study report from the Institute for Work & Health.
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Sharing Best Evidence
A systematic review of the literature to find tools that effectively measure the impact of knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) activities concluded that few well developed instruments are available to evaluate the implementation and impact of knowledge transfer and exchange practices. However, it did find 16 articles describing instruments that showed promise as useful tools in the evaluation of KTE activities, and references for these are provided here.
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Issue Briefing
Workers who suffer permanent impairments from a work injury often rely on workers' compensation benefits to replace lost earnings. But how well are benefit programs fulfilling this role? This Issue Briefing addresses that question.
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Project report
Kosny A, Lifshen M
This national scan from the Institute for Work & Health looks at some of the services, programs and resources on occupational health & safety and workers' compensation that are available to recent immigrants to Canada. It also discusses trends in the types of resources available, identifies important gaps, and highlights case studies of programs that present interesting opportunities for providing this information to newcomers.
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Project report
Mustard C, Chambers A, Bielecky A, McLeod CB, Smith PM
A study from the Institute for Work & Health, detailed in this report, suggests emergency department records in Ontario can provide an independent source of reliable surveillance information on acute job-related injuries and illnesses.
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Systematic Review
Furlan AD, Gnam W, Carnide N, Irvin E, Amick B, DeRango K, McMaster R, Cullen KL, Brouwer S, Bultmann U, Slack T
Depression in the workplace is widespread, and workplaces feel its financial pinch in the form of absenteeism and presenteeism. Yet workplace programs that specifically target depression remain uncommon, perhaps because little information is available on the effectiveness of these programs when it comes to improving outcomes of importance to employers. This systematic review set out to provide such information and its results are included in this report.
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Systematic Review
Van Eerd D, Cole DC, Keown K, Irvin E, Kramer D, Gibson J, Kohn M, Mahood Q, Slack T, Amick B, Phipps D, Garcia J, Morassaei S
This report shares the findings of a systematic review that looked across a wide variety of research fields to identify tools that can accurately and reliably measure how well KTE activities bring research evidence to practitioners and change their knowledge, attitudes and/or behaviour.
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Accomplishments Report
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Project report
Amick B, Farquhar A, Grant K, Hunt S, Kapoor K, Keown K, Lawrie C, McKean C, Miller S, Murphy C, Nichol K, Roche M, Sackville-Duyvelshoff C, Shermer P, Speers J, Swift M, Szabo M, Vandevis T, Young J
Can a simple tool be developed that will predict a firm’s workplace injury experience based on an assessment of its health and safety policies and practices? This was the question that a team of partners within Ontario's occupational health and safety (OHS) system set out to answer, and it looks like the answer is “yes.” This report describes the team's work developing these potential OHS leading indicators.
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Archived tools and guides
This point-of-care tool helps health-care providers safely and effectively manage their patients with chronic non-cancer pain, using prompts, checklists and charts to help determine the appropriate opioid prescription (if any).
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Research Highlights
A study examining changes in work conditions in three provinces between 1994 and 2003-2005 finds lower levels of job satisfaction, lower levels of decision authority and co-worker support, and higher likelihood of rotating shifts and long hours.
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Research Highlights
Physiotherapy use and costs to treat musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) at a large Ontario workplace increased substantially over a 10-year period. The potential exists for unequal access to physiotherapy services among workers not privately insured or covered by their workplaces.
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Research Highlights
Problematic interactions among health-care providers, injured workers and workers’ compensation boards may delay the return to work of injured workers with complicated claims. The result can be frustration, financial difficulties and mental health problems for injured workers.
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Research Highlights
From 1999 to 2007, the lost-time claim rate for young Ontario workers (ages 15 to 24) declined more steeply than the adult rate, and as a result the two rates are converging.
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Research Highlights
A longitudinal study of a representative sample of Canadian workers finds certain work characteristics are linked with precarious employment and put workers at increased risk of poor physical health.
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Research Highlights
A small but important minority—14 per cent—of injured workers experience recurrent neck pain, accounting for 40 per cent of all lost-time days due to neck pain, according to a study of claims made to Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.
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Issue Briefing
This Issue Briefing draws attention to the policy challenge of coordinating and aligning both the goals and the administration of at least seven different disability income security programs in Canada.
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Impact case study
Germany's social insurance authority regularly turns to systematic reviews from the Institute for Work & Health because of their quality and reliability.
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Impact case study
Agency turns around rise of long-duration claims with a new model informed by IWH research.
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Impact case study
Union awareness program draws on IWH research findings to target all new workers–not just workers who are young.
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Impact case study
Institute scientists work with WSIB to provide ongoing evaluation of three important programs.
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Impact case study
Community research project involving injured workers identifies stigmatizing attitudes as a problem.
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Impact case study
IWH joins system partners in the creation of the MSD Prevention Guideline, an essential resource for province's enforcement efforts.
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Annual Report
The Systematic Review Program: Solutions. The Institute for Work & Health's 2009 Annual Report
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Issue Briefing
Shift work — employment with anything other than a regular daytime work schedule — makes up a large part of work in the Canadian economy. For at least 50 years, researchers have been exploring the question of whether working shifts poses a health hazard. This briefing summarizes the findings of a selection of this research, including several review articles.
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Project report
Speers J, Robson LS, Mustard C
The Occupational Health & Safety Council of Ontario (OHSCO) released its final report on system performance measurements. The report highlights trends of key performance indicators in the Ontario prevention system in 2008.
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Impact case study
Report cites IWH research as important in identifying the need for change in WSIB's service delivery model.
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