To explore the relationship between depression, pain, and specific cognitive factors in healthcare workers who have had a work-related injury, and how these factors influence their ability and the time it will take for them to recover from injury and return safely to work.
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Co-Leaders:
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To explore the relationship between depression, pain, and specific cognitive factors in healthcare workers who have had a work-related injury, and how these factors influence their ability and the time it will take for them to recover from injury and return safely to work.
Research Summary
The Prevention and Early Active Return-to-Work Safely (PEARS) program was developed and implemented in BC to prevent injuries and to help health care workers return to work quickly and safely following a work-related injury. Research has shown that psychological, cognitive, and behavioural factors influence patients’ responses to treatment for pain. This suggests that early identification of these factors in health care workers who have had a work-related injury would enhance the effectiveness of the PEARS program.
This study will explore the relationship between depression, pain, and specific cognitive factors in healthcare workers who have had a work-related injury and have registered for the PEARS program. The objectives of the study are to:
- identify the most significant predictors of work outcomes for healthcare workers registered in the PEARS program by considering demographics, pain, depressive symptoms, and cognitive variables;
- identify the relationship between work outcomes in healthcare workers and their depression/pain profiles. Profiles of depression and pain in injured workers will be conceived by considering two points in time: at the beginning of the PEARS program and at the end of treatment two months later;
- evaluate the relationships between pain and depression for healthcare workers registered in the PEARS program by considering the influence of cognitive factors on work outcomes.
By identifying opportunities for more effective methods of intervention and treatment, the outcomes of this research may lead to the enhancements of the PEARS program that will enable more health care workers to return to work quickly and safely following a workplace injury.
Research Results
183 participants from the Vancouver area were recruited to the study. Over half of the participants (N=110) experienced acute or subacute pain, and 73 had chronic pain. Most of the PEARS program participants were working (76%), and approximately 25% received some type of compensation. About one-third of participants had depressive symptoms, presenting with mild to severe depression. Vlayen’s Fear-avoidance model (2000) has been confirmed with people having acute/subacute pain. Furthermore, this model has been improved by the addition of concepts such as Pain self-efficacy (positive affectivity), and work outcomes. The Pain self-efficacy concept better predicts fear-avoidance and working or not, whereas pain catastrophizing is more closely related to compensation. Early identification of pain, depressive symptoms and pain self-efficacy, as well as pain catastrophizing, would allow for targeted early interventions, which, in turn, could improve work outcomes and prevent long-term disability. The final aim of this study is to identify opportunities for more effective and efficient methods of intervention and treatment. This will allow us to further enhance the quality of services offered by PEARS programs throughout the province of British Columbia.