Paths of Reentry: Employment Experiences of Injured Workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boden LI ; Strunin L
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: An injury at work can result in a change in jobs or employers, unemployment, or withdrawal from the labor force. Substantial life changes can occur, often mediated by the initial attempt to return to employment. METHODS: This study uses ethnographic interviews of 204 workers injured in Florida. RESULTS: The study describes three paths to reemployment taken by the injured workers. The "welcome back" path provides workers with a sense of being valued by their preinjury employers. This positive effect remains, even for those who are unable to continue working because of limitations imposed by their injuries. Other paths cause workers to feel undervalued, as discarded or damaged goods, and generate hostility and resentment. Females in all groups are less likely to be currently working. White males were more likely than other groups to be employed in skilled jobs and are also the most likely to return to light-duty jobs and to remain in their preinjury jobs over time. CONCLUSIONS: Half of the workers in this study experience employer indifference or hostility in response to their attempts to return to work after an occupational back injury. After injury, there are both commonalities and meaningful disparities in post-injury experiences of White, Black, and Hispanic male and female workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Demography Epidemiology Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Race Factors Safety Sex Characteristics Workplace
• Keywords:
  Age-factors Author Keywords: Workplace Injuries Back-injuries Demographic-characteristics Human Costs Injuries Injury-prevention Injury Experience Qualitative Methods Racial-factors Sex-factors Statistical-analysis Work-environment Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  373-384
• Volume:
  38
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024432
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2000 Oct; 38(4):373-384
• Contact Point Address:
  Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118
• Email:
  lstrunin@bu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Social and Economic Consequences
• Performing Organization:
  Boston University, School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19950930
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  19990929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:464d417b02e4fe983ed1b454d35f6e19b588e3927ec6b1b06546622819cae438326e3a43976e83815b72af2068ae4185ebbbe5a2b78bc1c816ab3442202ace50
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196236/cdc_196236_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 145.58 KB ]