Return to work, accommodation and support

While primary care physicians play an important role in helping ill and injured workers return to work (RTW), they have a variety of learning needs about how to best navigate the RTW process. These needs fall in the areas of completing administrative tasks, challenging personal beliefs, understanding specific RTW issues and learning about available RTW services and tools.

Published: July 2023

An estimated one in seven Canadians report using cannabis products to recuperate from work-related physical injuries, according to data published in the journal BMJ Open. Researchers at the Institute for Work & Health surveyed nearly 1,200 Canadians who had received workers’ compensation for either a work-related injury or illness. Fourteen percent of respondents said that they had used cannabis explicitly to recuperate from a workplace injury.

Published: NORML, July 2023

Published: BMJ Open, July 2023

Published: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, June 2023

The Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA) initiative aims to build the capacity of employers to hire and accommodate persons with disabilities. This article profiles the initiative's mission.

Published: Benefits Canada, May 2023

Report profiling the Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT) and its capacity to help worker's find accommodations without disclosing a condition to their employer.

Published: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety, May 2023

Article reports on an IWH study that found older workers to be reluctant to disclose their need for support in the workplace due to reputational and stereotyping concerns.

Published: Rehab & Community Care, April 2023

Todd Humber reports on discussions about chronic health accommodations at work, profiles the role of the Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT).

Published: OHS Canada, April 2023

Many workers with chronic physical and mental health conditions struggle when deciding whether to seek support from their workplace. The Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT) is designed to help address the complexity of disclosure decisions. Developed as part of a large research partnership, the JDAPT is an online, interactive tool that guides users through a series of simple questions about their job demands, job tasks and working conditions. In this presentation, Dr. Monique Gignac describes the JDAPT tool, its development, as well as data from two studies on the tool. She discusses the JDAPT’s potential to help workers by focusing on work solutions, not medical diagnoses and symptoms.

Published: March 2023

An article by Shane Mercer covering an interview with Monique Gignac about the newly released Job Demands and Accommodation Planning Tool (JDAPT) tool for workers, and the soon-to-be-released version of the tool for employers.

Published: Canadian Occupation Safety, March 2023