Connecting for Change
| Principal investigator(s): | Sharon Dale Stone (Lakehead University) |
| Co-investigator(s): | Mary Ellen Hill, Katja Maki (Lakehead University); Ken Kawchuk, Eugene Lefrancois (Thunder Bay Injured Workers Support Group); Steve Mantis (Canadian Injured Workers Alliance); Bart Pilato (New Directions Workers’ Resource Centre) |
| Institution: | Lakehead University |
For more information on this study, please contact Sharon Dale Stone: sharondale.stone@lakeheadu.ca
Results
Results from this study show that injured workers face a lot of problems, including difficulties in getting their injuries recognized, difficulties with getting compensation, and difficulties with returning to work. Nearly all face financial hardships and trouble in their personal lives. Most injured workers try to get help from physicians, other rehabilitation professionals, employers, supervisors, co-workers, unions, the Office of the Worker Advisor, other professional service providers, advocates for people with disabilities, family members and/or friends, but they report varying degrees of success with finding help or support. They also turn to other injured workers, believing that their peers were the only ones able to understand what they were going through.
The data plainly show that, of all the various people that injured workers turn to for support, other injured workers consistently give the most useful help. Thus, those injured workers who are already acquainted with other injured workers generally find that it is in their casual conversations with each other that they learn the most useful information, get the most helpful advice, and find the most empathy.
The research also identified barriers to peer support, including socio-psychological barriers and practical barriers that are exacerbated by the demographic and geographic realities of the Northwestern Ontario region. That is, the region is sparsely populated, so that injured workers often live great distances from others and may not easily be able to meet face-to-face. Even when they have access to transportation, however, travel is frequently made difficult or impossible due to poor road conditions and even road closures. These realities represent barriers that injured workers in more populated areas of the province do not face on an ongoing basis. Practically speaking, it is not always possible for injured workers to get together.
A strong message to come out of the focus group data is that there is a need for information and education about peer support. In every focus group, participants talked about their hunger for information and feelings of uncertainty due to their lack of knowledge about what was possible. Several participants, who had never before talked to strangers about their situation, commented on the useful information that they were learning from each other during focus group discussions. Others, who regularly talked to friends who were also injured workers, commented on the invaluable support these informal conversations could provide. Still others, who attended peer support meetings either occasionally or regularly, commented on how much they were able to learn at these meetings, and how psychologically helpful it was to be able to talk to others in similar situations.
Conclusions
Based on the data collected in this research, the research team recommends that:
- The WSIB, employers, and unions explore options for enhancing access to peer support for injured workers;
- Steps be taken to ensure that funding for existing injured workers groups is maintained, and funding be made available for the creation of injured workers support groups in places where they do not currently exist;
- Funding be made available for a toll-free support line;
- WSIB, employers, unions, and rehabilitation professionals co-operate to promote awareness of peer support, including awareness of what it is and how it can help;
- Information about peer support be made available in places where injured workers are likely to see it (including WSIB offices, union offices, medical and rehabilitation centres);
- Funding be made available for training injured workers to offer peer support; and
- Additional research be conducted to increase understanding of the ways the injured workers can and do help one another.
Objective
This research project examined the use of peer support by injured workers in Northwestern Ontario. Developed by a team made up of injured workers and university-based researchers, the study looks at the extent to which injured workers help other injured workers during recovery, rehabilitation and return to work.
Methods
The research team organized 12 focus group interviews in seven different communities. Between March and June 2001, a total of 54 injured workers participated in these interviews. The goal here was to interview enough injured workers in Northwestern Ontario to ensure that different experiences would be captured. The interviews included injured workers who had worked at all types of jobs, everything from labourers, truck drivers, clerks and machine operators to office managers, nurses and teachers. One focus group interview was restricted to aboriginal injured workers, and another was restricted to youth. Injured workers were asked to talk about who they turned to for help or support during their recovery, rehabilitation and return to work experiences. Participants were encouraged to elaborate on how their injuries had affected their lives, they were encouraged to speculate about what might have helped them cope better, and they were asked about contact with other injured workers.
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