Health-care sector
IWH research that specifically involves health-care workplaces, workers, unions, employers and/or associations, as well as research on programs that specifically target the health-care sector, is collected together here. Not included here is IWH research that cuts across all or many sectors, even though it may be relevant to the health-care sector. For this reason, visitors are encouraged to explore beyond this page to find equally important information on the prevention of work injury and disability in health care.
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Participatory approach to health and safety in long-term care
Involve front-line staff when identifying and controlling hazards at long-term care homes. Those who do a job every day know the associated hazards best. A participatory approach can help prevent injuries.
Published: October 2, 2019
Journal article
Journal article
Psychometric testing of the British English Workplace Activity Limitations Scale in four rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions
Published: Rheumatology Advances in Practice, March 2023
Journal article
Journal article
Post-switch effectiveness of etanercept biosimilar versus continued etanercept in rheumatoid arthritis patients with stable disease: a prospective multinational observational study
Published: Advances in Therapy, October 2022
Research Highlights
Getting the message right: strategies to improve return-to-work communication
Communication is central to disability management—especially in large and complex organizations where multiple parties are involved in the return-to-work process and inconsistent practices can add to communication challenges. Workplace stakeholders in large and complex organizations use key strategies to effectively communicate about RTW. They include communicating messages of support, correctly timing RTW communication, carefully wording messages, framing messages and tailoring messages for individual workers.
Published: July 2022
Research Highlights
Working conditions for Greater Toronto Area personal support workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
Personal support workers (PSWs) faced a range of challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including concerns of contracting or transmitting the virus, reduced work hours and income, loss of childcare services and lack of paid sick leave. While the pandemic highlighted the importance of the PSW workforce to the Canadian health-care system, pre-existing poor working conditions—in particular, insecure jobs with few benefits—exacerbated COVID-19-related work experiences.
Published: July 2022
Journal article
Journal article
Implementing the Total Worker Health program in a shared governance context
Published: Journal of Emergency Nursing, July 2022
Journal article
Journal article
From hands-on to remote: moderators of response to a novel self-management telehealth programme during the COVID-19 pandemic
Published: European Journal of Pain, May 2022
Journal article
Journal article
The working conditions for personal support workers in the Greater Toronto Area during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study
Published: Canadian Journal of Public Health, May 2022
Journal article
Journal article
Trends and disparities in the use of telehealth among injured workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
Published: Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, April 2022
Journal article
Journal article
A grounded theory study to identify caregiving phases and support needs across the Alzheimer's disease trajectory
Published: Disability and Rehabilitation, April 2022
Research Highlights
Implementing participatory ergonomics in the long-term care sector
It can be challenging to tackle long-standing musculoskeletal hazards in busy, high turnover settings such as long-term care homes. Despite this, an IWH study finds a participatory approach—one that involves frontline workers—can be successfully implemented and sustained.
Published: February 2022