Article Text
PDF
Abstract
Objective This study aimed to determine the disability duration and burden of compensated time loss in the health and social care (HSC) sector following psychological injury.
Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from the New South Wales workers’ compensation system. The median weeks disability duration and total weeks of working time lost (WWL) per 1000 workers were compared between the HSC sector and all other industries, and between specific occupational groups in the HSC sector, using accelerated failure time models.
Results HSC workers had a median (IQR) disability duration of 12.4 (3.3–40.0) weeks, which was less than the 15.3 (4.3–48.3) weeks observed in other industries. Within the HSC sector, ambulance officers had the longest disability duration at 31.1 (6.1–104.0) weeks and highest WWL at 15 734 weeks per 1000 workers. Conversely, nurses and midwives had the shortest disability duration at 8.0 (2.0–25.8) weeks, while other healthcare workers had the lowest WWL (17.0). Controlling for other determinants, ambulance officers had the highest likelihood of longer disability duration (time ratio (TR) 2.14; 95% CI 1.64 to 2.78), followed by social workers (TR 1.46; 95% CI 1.20 to 1.79) and administrators and managers (TR 1.41; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.71). Older age, female sex, full-time employment and working in small organisations correlated with extended disability duration.
Conclusion There is considerable variation in the duration and burden of work disability due to psychological injury across occupational groups in the HSC sector. Findings suggest the need for occupation-specific workplace rehabilitation and psychological support to reduce the impact of psychological injury on HSC workers and improve return-to-work outcomes.
- Epidemiology
- Burnout, Psychological
- Mental Health
- Occupational Health
- Health Personnel
Data availability statement
No data are available. The data are not publicly available.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Data availability statement
No data are available. The data are not publicly available.
Footnotes
Twitter @axcollie
Contributors This study was the product of the combined intellectual input of all authors. AYG and AC conceived and designed the study. AYG and LS analysed and interpreted the data. SEG and AC interpreted the results and provided assistance in drafting the discussion section. AYG wrote the manuscript. AYG is responsible for the overall content of this article as guarantor. All authors participated in the revision of the manuscript.
Funding Production of this manuscript was supported by funding from icare New South Wales (icare) as part of a large (three years) project called ‘SMART Design for Care’, which aims to prevent psychological injury by identifying SMART work design opportunities and challenges in collaboration with individuals, teams and team leaders in the Health Care and Social Assistance industry. icare is the largest public-sector insurer in Australia which provides workers’ compensation insurance and care plans to more than 329 000 public and private sector employers in NSW, as well as their 3.2 million employees.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.