Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T19:27:18.925Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Vocational Rehabilitation Index and Return to Work after Compensable Occupational Injuries in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2018

James A. Athanasou
James A. Athanasou*
Affiliation:
Discipline of Rehabilitation Counselling, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Discipline of Rehabilitation Counselling, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, 75 East Street, Lidcombe, NSW 2141, Australia. E-mail: james.athanasou@sydney.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

This study examined the personal factors as measured by the Vocational Rehabilitation Index and their influence on returning to work after compensable occupational injuries. The participants comprised 462 patients (335 males; 127 females) who underwent a vocational assessment. The length of time since the injury occurred varied from less than 1 year to 15 years with a mean of 3 years (SD = 2). Results indicated that only 23% had returned to work. Just on 30% of the patients had not worked at all since the accident and some 48% had returned to work but were now not working. The major influences on return to work following an occupational injury that were statistically significant (p < 0.001) were (a) the length of treatment (i.e., time since the injury), and (b) whether there was a psychological problem. The findings support the validity of the Vocational Rehabilitation Index for predicting the probability of return to work following an accident.

Keywords

compensable injuryoccupational inuryreturn to workVocational Rehabilitation Index
Type
Articles
Information
The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , December 2017 , pp. 69 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Athanasou, J.A. (2005). Return to work following whiplash and back injury: A review and evaluation. Medico-Legal Journal, 73 (Part 1), 29–33.Google Scholar
Athanasou, J.A. (2015). Compensable injury and quality of life. Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling, 21 (1), 18–28.Google Scholar
Athanasou, J.A. (2017). Promoting career development after personal injury. Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Sense Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cancelliere, C., Kristman, V.L., Cassidy, J.D., Hincapie, C.A., Cote, P., Boyle, E., Carroll, L.J., Stainacke, B.-M., de Boussard, C.N., & Borg, J. (2014). Systematic review of return to work after mild traumatic brain injury: Results of the international collaboration on mild traumatic brain injury prognosis. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 95 (3), S201–209.Google Scholar
Cornes, P. (1990). The vocational rehabilitation index: A guide to accident victims’ requirements for return-to-work assistance. International Disability Studies, 12 (1), 32–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornes, P., & Roy, C.W. (1991). Vocational rehabilitation index assessment of rehabilitation medicine service patients. International Disability Studies, 13 (1), 5–8.Google Scholar
Driscoll, T.R., Harrison, J.E., Bradley, C., & Newson, R.S. (2008). The role of design issues in work-related fatal injury in Australia. Journal of Safety Research, 39, 209–214.Google Scholar
Hu, J., Jiang, Y., Youxin, L., Yu, I.T.S., Leng, H., & He, Y. (2012). Predictors of return to work and duration of absence following work-related hand injury. International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, 21 (3), 216–223.Google Scholar
Hush, J.M. (2008). Clinical management of occupational low back pain in Australia: What is the real picture?. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 18, 375–380.Google Scholar
Krause, N., Frank, J.W., Dasinger, L.K., Sullivan, T.J., & Sinclair, S.J. (2001). Determinants of duration of disability and return to work after work-related injury and illness: Challenges for future research. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 40 (4), 464–484.Google Scholar
Langman, C. (2012). Introduction to vocational rehabilitation. In Policies, practices and skills. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar
MacEachen, E., Clarke, J., Franche, R.-L., & Irvin, E. (2006). Systematic review of the qualitative literature on return to work after injury. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 32 (4), 257–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meehl, P.E. (1954). Clinical versus statistical prediction: A theoretical analysis and review of the evidence. Minneapolis, USA: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Safe Work Australia (2012). Compendium of workers’ compensation statistics Australia 2009–2010. Canberra, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Saltychev, M., Eskola, M., Tenovuo, O., & Laimi, K. (2013). Return to work after traumatic brain injury: Systematic review. Brain Injury, 27 (13-14), 1516–1527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wall, C.L., Morrissey, S.A., & Ogloff, J.R.P. (2008). Personality traits, psychological health, and the workers’ compensation system. Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling, 55 (14), 55–68.Google Scholar
Wynne-Jones, G., Cowen, J., Jordan, J.L., Ythman, O., Main, C.J., Glozier, N., & van der Windt, D. (2013). Absence from work and return to work in people with back pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 71, 448–456.Google Scholar