Abstract
Purpose In occupational rehabilitation, the biopsychosocial model endorses the role of social factors in worker recovery. We conducted a systematic review to explore three questions examining the role of social support for the return-to-work (RTW) of individuals with work-related injury: (1) What are the worker-identified social barriers and facilitators in RTW; (2) What is the relationship between social factors and RTW; and (3) What is the effectiveness of social interventions for RTW. Methods Systematic searches of six databases were conducted for each research question. These identified 11 studies meeting inclusion criteria for Research Question 1, and 12 studies for Research Question 2. No studies were identified that met inclusion criteria for Research Question 3. A narrative synthesis approach was used to analyse the included studies. Results Research Question 1 identified five themes in social barriers and facilitators to RTW, including contact/communication, person-centred approaches, mutual trust, reaction to injury, and social relationships. Research Question 2 identified moderate support for reaction to injury and social integration/functioning as predictors of RTW and weak evidence for co-worker support. Four studies reported significant associations between social factors and RTW, six reported mixed findings with at least one significant social predictor, and two found no significant relationships. However, conclusions were limited by the inconsistency in measurement of social factors. Conclusions Our findings indicate that social support and integration may influence RTW following work-related injury, and highlights the need for further systematic examination of social factors in the field of occupational rehabilitation.
Highlights
The biopsychosocial model is considered best practice in the field of occupational rehabilitation, the “social” component of this model is often neglected [1]. This is problematic as previous research has shown that social factors continue to play an important role in injured workers return-to-work (RTW) process, including workers being at increased risk of secondary psychosocial impairment when they receive inappropriate care or insufficient support [2–4]
When examining preventative strategies for managing non-compensable sickness absence, social factors like supervisory support and leadership quality were effective in reducing absences and Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation (2019) 29:636–659 increasing productivity [7–9], while interventions targeting social support and supervisory quality have been found to increase the risk of work absence and improve productivity [10]
According to social capital theory [11], the social resources of an individual are critical to their ability to cope with external stressors, such as recovering from an injury or illness. These social resources comprise individuals access to social support [12, 13], and their social integration [14], or the extent to which they engage with different relationships and perceive themselves to belong to different communities
Summary
Systematic searches of six databases were conducted for each research question. These identified studies meeting inclusion criteria for Research Question 1, and studies for Research Question 2. A narrative synthesis approach was used to analyse the included studies. Results Research Question 1 identified five themes in social barriers and facilitators to RTW, including contact/communication, person-centred approaches, mutual trust, reaction to injury, and social relationships. Research Question 2 identified moderate support for reaction to injury and social integration/functioning as predictors of RTW and weak evidence for co-worker support. Four studies reported significant associations between social factors and RTW, six reported mixed findings with at least one significant social predictor, and two found no significant relationships. Conclusions were limited by the inconsistency in measurement of social factors
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