A Canadian study looking at how mental health outcomes for people with a workplace injury compare to those for people with non-workplace injuries raises some interesting questions about the injury claims and compensation processes.
The study looked at more than 7,500 persons with workplace injuries and almost 29,000 persons with non-workplace injuries and included only persons with first-time injuries who required surgery with anaesthetic.
The study showed that rates of anxiety and mental disorder worsened from the pre-injury to post-injury period for people with a traumatic workplace injury as opposed to those with non-workplace injuries whose mental health did not worsen in the same way.
These findings suggest that the injury claims and compensation systems themselves may be negatively impacting injured employees’ mental health, confirming what many who have been through the system knew from their own experiences.
Early detection and treatment of mental disorders following traumatic WPI may reduce the long-term impact and burden of these conditions on individuals, the workplace, and society, but ultimately, further examination and development of improvements to the injury claim and compensation system should be the goal.
Read more: Workplace Injury and Mental Health Outcomes | Surgery | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network