21 / 21
Page 70
conferenceseries
.com
Volume 7, Issue 4 (Suppl)
J Nov Physiother
ISSN: 2165-7025 JNP, an open access journal
Physicians 2017
July 24-26, 2017
July 24-26, 2017 Melbourne, Australia
World Physiotherapists &
Physicians Summit
J Nov Physiother 2017, 7:4 (Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2165-7025-C1-015
Psychosocial factors impacting workplace injury rehabilitation: Evaluation of a concise screening tool
Sareen McLinton1, Sarven Savia McLinton2 and Martin van der Linden1
1
Centre of Human Genetics, Australia
2
University of South Australia, Australia
Statement of the Problem:
Psychosocial factors have been linked with delayed injury recovery in workplace injuries. Those
workplace injuries that are of a pathophysiological minor nature often exhibit prolonged recovery timeframes. Current
screening tools to detect those at risk workers are often time consuming for the therapist to implement. With a simple screening
tool therapists could quickly and conveniently detect those at risk workers early and tailor their rehabilitation to return the
worker to full capacity more expediently.
Purpose:
To evaluate whether a new concise screening tool is effective at predicting those workers at risk of delayed injury
recovery due to psychosocial factors.
Method:
A quick and concise screening tool called the “How are you coping gauge?” (HCG) was developed. This tool was
implemented as part of the initial physiotherapy assessment for all new workplace injuries. Participants were excluded if they
did not meet the strict criteria used to classify a musculoskeletal injury as simple. The HCG score was then compared to the
time taken for the worker to recover. It was hypothesized that those workers indicating a poorer level of workplace and home
support would take longer time to recover.
Findings:
A sample of 254 participants was included in analysis. Significant correlation (p<0.001) was observed between HCG
scores for self-reported work and home support and recovery time thereby confirming the hypothesis. Path analysis found
workplace support to be a highly significant moderate-to-strong predictor of recovery time. \
Conclusion & Significance:
The HCG is an effective tool to quickly and easily identify those workers at risk of delayed injury
recovery due to psychosocial factors. Through early detection of at risk workers, rehabilitation can be tailored to mitigate these
factors early in the injury recovery process, reducing the time taken for a worker to recover, potentially reducing economic
costs.
smclinton@chg.net.au