Articles tagged under ‘PsychoSocial’

Articles 1 - 87 of 87

• Tipping points — addressing the challenges in a single parent’s RTW journey

  An injury from lifting a heavy box lift in a warehouse illustrates the pivotal moments when different approaches can lead to vastly different outcomes

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• A story of hope for people living with persistent pain — Part 1: The mind-body connection in back pain

  A podcast conversation between Dr. Rangan Chatterjee and Professor Peter O'Sullivan is an important resource for anyone dealing with back pain. Part 1 of our 3-part summary of this conversation explores the impact of stress, emotions and beliefs on back pain.

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• Webinar recording — Chronic pain in claims

  Kathy Hubble of Amelio Health explores the nature of chronic pain and approaches to managing it and offers valuable insights for healthcare professionals, claims managers and anyone involved in supporting people with chronic pain conditions.

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• Webinar recording — The Orebro: The power of early psychosocial screening and management to ensure a smooth recovery and return to work and life.

  This webinar, presented by Dr. Cassandra Zaina, discusses the importance and implementation of the Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire (ÖMPQ) in early psychosocial screening for workers' compensation cases.

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• Webinar recording: Manufacturing Healthy Minds

  Hear about the Manufacturing Healthy Minds Program implemented at BOC Gases, a mental health program by workers, for workers.

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• It’s time to bring a wide-angle lens to understanding pain

  Taking a wide-angle view of pain — one that looks beyond the physical to encompass the psychological and the social — can help people live fuller, more satisfying lives.

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• The current state of psychological health and safety in the workplace

  A Safe Work Australia report paints the most up-to-date picture of workers’ experiences of psychosocial hazards and their outcomes.

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• The feel-good factor — why your thoughts and emotions matter to recovery

  Injured workers will benefit from the message that their thoughts and emotions can affect how well they recover from injury or illness.

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• Nine to thrive — the health benefits of work

  An important message for healthcare providers to give injured workers is that working is good for their recovery and their health.

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• It pays to share (evidence-based messages)

  Ten reasons to share the key messages from It Pays To Care with everyone who works with workers’ compensation claimants.

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• When inactivity hurts and movement heals

  An important message for healthcare providers to give injured workers is that inactivity is more risky than moving.

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• Millions of Australians have a chronic illness. So why aren’t employers accommodating them?

  More than 20 million Australians have at least one long-term health condition, 63% of whom are in the workforce. Research found that 73% of people believed their chronic illness was at least partially caused or worsened by their job. So what are employers getting so wrong? And what are the solutions to improving working conditions for people with chronic illnesses?

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• Steering Healthy Minds — a peer support program to prevent mental illness in the transport sector

  An industry peer support program to prevent mental injury is driving change in the transport industry.

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• Where are we at? — psychosocial risk and regulation in Oz, the UK and the US

  How do Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States compare when it comes to regulating and enforcing the management of psychosocial risks and hazards?

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• How do Work Health and Safety psychosocial regulations line up with RTW laws? And how do employers comply with both?

  What should employers do to make sure they're complying with both Work Health and Safety psychosocial regulations and laws about return to work?

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• Webinar recording — The Uncomfortable Truths About Psychosocial Safety

  Best-selling author and workplace wellbeing teacher, Dr. Michelle McQuaid, talks us through how to understand, assess and minimise psychosocial hazards in the workplace.

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• Emotional demands — the invisible forces that influence the experience of work

  What are emotional demands in the workplace? And how do they affect workers' well-being? The answer is not black and white.

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• Webinar recording — Eliminating psychosocial risks

  Jacqueline Agius, the ACT’s WHS Commissioner, talks about what psychosocial hazards are, the impact they have on workers and others and how workplaces can manage the associated risks.

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• Webinar recording — Translating Employer Insights

  Megan Buick, General Manager of the Strategic Partnerships and Engagement Group at Comcare talks about the challenges employers experience in supporting work participation and provides resources to help meet their needs.

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• The personal, the professional and the psychosocial — A conversation with Jacqueline Aguis, ACT Work Health and Safety Commissioner (Part 3)

  Jaqueline Agius, the ACT Work Health and Safety Commissioner speaks to RTWM about codes, compliance and the costs of not addressing psychosocial hazards.

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• The personal, the professional and the psychosocial — A conversation with Jacqueline Aguis, ACT Work Health and Safety Commissioner (Part 2)

  Jaqueline Agius, the ACT Work Health and Safety Commissioner speaks to RTWM about the work the regulator is doing to help businesses address psychosocial hazards.

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• The personal and the professional — A conversation with Jacqueline Agius, ACT Work Health and Safety Commissioner (Part 1)

  Jaqueline Agius, the ACT Work Health and Safety Commissioner, speaks to RTWM about the personal incident that informs her work and the messages we teach young people about violence if we don’t address psychosocial risks.

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• WorkSafe ACT’s Psychosocial Maturity Indication Tool — in a nutshell

  RTWMatters speaks to WorkSafe ACT about their Psychosocial Maturity Indication Tool

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• Tools to assess psychosocial safety in your workplace

  Free psychosocial risk assessment tools can be a valuable starting point for organisations that are looking to address psychosocial risks in the workplace.

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• Tipping points — are psychosocial hazards present in your workplace?

  Four groups of psychosocial hazards leaders need to look for, and what they can do practically to support their teams.

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• Building a culture of 'and' — balancing cultures of care and legal compliance for workplaces to flourish

  Complying with laws ensures a baseline level of safety. But people and teams do, and feel, better in workplaces that foster cultures of care alongside mitigating risk.

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• Speak up cultures — how leaders can build healthy and supportive work environments

  A Harvard Business Review article gives leaders some practical tips to create positive work environments, behaviours and interactions.

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• From hammer to toolbox — psychological safety is important, but not the only solution to workplace well-being

  ‘Psychological safety’ is not the only aspect of psychosocial risk management that's needed for holistic and sustainable workplace improvements.

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• Webinar recording — A WISE approach to injury management in emergency services

  Hear from a team of people who adapted the WISE protocol to suit emergency services and increase support to firefighters with high-complexity injuries.

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• Psychological safety in the workplace — Part 2: bridging the ‘safety gap’

  Research shows there's often a gap between the psychosocial support leaders say they’re providing and the hazards team members report they are experiencing. Why is this so? And what can we do to bridge that gap?

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• Psychological safety in the workplace — Part 1: moving beyond risk assessment and compliance

  To create psychologically safe workplaces, leaders need to go beyond just assessing risk and focus on leveraging existing strengths to eliminate or reduce these risks.

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• Upping the ante — what the new model code of practice expects of employers

  What exactly does Safe Work Australia’s new model code of practice, Managing psychosocial hazards at work expect of employers?

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• From duty to action — how to comply with the law to ensure psychosocial safety

  Managing psychosocial hazards in the workplace is an important responsibility for employers, particularly human resources managers. What laws apply? And what things should employers consider?

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• Can you hear that sound? It’s the wake-up call for employers to manage psychosocial hazards

  The era of prioritising mental health and psychological safety in the workplace has arrived. There’s been a transformative shift in what employers are expected to do to manage psychosocial hazards at work.

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• Is your organisation ready for regulatory change? — the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of psychosocial risk assessment and control

  This is Part 2 of a 2-part article that summarises a presentation by Professor Angela Martin at the 2022 Workplace Mental Health Symposium. Part 1 dealt with the ‘what’ about how organisations can prevent harm to people's mental health at work’. This part looks at the ‘why’ and the ‘how’.

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• Is your organisation ready for regulatory change? — the ‘what’ of psychosocial risk assessment and control

  This is Part 1 of a 2-part article that summarises a presentation by Professor Angela Martin at the 2022 Workplace Mental Health Symposium. It looks at the ‘what’ about how organisations can prevent harm to people's mental health at work’.

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• Psychosocial safety qu'est-ce que c'est? Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, better *

  What is ‘psychosocial safety’? And how does it fit in with legal developments in the area of workplace health and safety?

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• Holding the torch higher — the social realities of self-management

  Self-management is not just about individual efforts. It's shaped by social factors and the interactions between patients and healthcare professionals

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• IMEs as forces for healing, not harming — Part 2: healthcare providers

  Independent medical examinations are a healthcare issue that contributes to poorer outcomes for injured workers. What does the research say about how healthcare providers can make a positive difference?

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• IMEs as forces for healing, not harming — Part 1: case managers

  Independent medical examinations are one of many factors in our compensation system that can enhance or impede workers’ recovery and RTW. There are things that case managers can do to swing the balance in favour of better workers outcomes.

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• Webinar recording — Every recovery needs a plan

  John McMahon, Director of Science at Navigator Group, discusses their Navigator Support Program which reduces cost and duration of claims by addressing psychosocial barriers to recovery.

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• New clinical care standard for low back pain — a story of hope

  The new Low Back Pain Clinical Care Standard aims to make sure patients with this common condition get the best outcomes.

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• Webinar recording — It pays to care: from policy to practice

  Dr Mary Wyatt introduces the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine's recently-launched policy on work injury scheme design and explores some practical approaches to improve how our schemes operate.

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• ‘An epidemic of useless and often harmful care’ — Part 1

  Our standard pathway of care in injury management leads to low value care and over-investigation, over-diagnosis and over-treatment. Dr Mary Wyatt, Occupational Physician, presents some ideas to bridge the gap between current practice and the evidence-base.

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• RTW: from policy to practice. An imperative for change and call to action

  An important policy paper — It pays to care — calls for a conversation about, and action on, how we can work together to improve health and recovery outcomes and reduce the barriers to care for people with work injuries.

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• Why some injured workers struggle and how to help

  Rehabilitation counselling guru Dr Boris Fedoric explains why some workers struggle to get back to work, identifying biopsychosocial barriers, explaining what employers and systems often get wrong and identifying supports that promote recovery and RTW.

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• Bad reassurance: "You’re fine! Don’t worry!"

  Doctors and allied health professionals aiming to avoid over-treatment can actually make things worse for patients with back pain by offering reassurance that fails to reassure, according to spine care specialist Dr Donald Murphy.

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• Webinar recording: Implementing early screening to identify and manage at risk workers to prevent unnecessary work disability: Lessons from the WISE study

  This webinar outlines the key learnings from the WISE study and the core components that made a major difference.

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• Webinar recording:Systematic approaches to identifying and addressing biopsychosocial barriers – the missing policy in RTW Part 3

  In the third and final installment of this excellent series, Dr Pam Garton talks challenges, core components and next steps in implementing a system-wide biopsychosocial approach to injury management.

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• Webinar recording:Systematic approaches to identifying and addressing biopsychosocial barriers – the missing policy in RTW Part 2

  In part two of a three part series on identifying and managing psychosocial issues in RTW, Dr Pam Garton discusses psychosocial assessment.

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• Webinar recording:Systematic approaches to identifying and addressing biopsychosocial barriers – the missing policy in RTW Part 1

  In part 1 of 3, Pam Garton PhD gives us the background on her excellent research and explains how to identify psychosocial risk.

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• Questioning the power of positivity

  Do positive expectations about RTW bring results, or do good prospects make injured workers feel more positive?

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• Webinar recording: The importance of social connection in RTW

  Associate Professor Caroline Howe explains what icare's research into social connection tells us.

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• Identifying psychosocial risks and worker vulnerability

  Guidance from Safe Work Australia can help you clock the psychosocial risks in your workplace, and understand which workers might be most vulnerable.

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• Psychosocial pitfalls of "ordinary" injuries

  We eavesdrop on a conversation (ok, polite but passionate debate) between RTW professionals with differing views on the influence of psyschosocial issues on recovery from non-catastrophic injury.

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• Workplace Incivility: where are your manners?

  Incivility is being rude, discourteous and showing a lack of regard for others. The behaviour harms the target, whether intentionally or unintentionally. It may also occur in the cyberspace, such as not replying to email or sending terse emails.

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• Role Summary: Psychologist

  Psychology is the study of the mind and associated behaviours. A psychologist's focus may be on either individuals or groups.

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• Case Study: Let the client help you help them

  Each client comes with their own unique history, personality and circumstances.

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• Injustice in return to work: part 2

  A sense of unfairness may lead to worse health outcomes for injured workers.

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• Injustice in return to work: part 1

  Workers' compensation systems can leave clients feeling betrayed. This sense of unfairness may hinder a client's return to work.

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• Video: It's time to say good-bye to brain drain

  Rob Aurbach talks about the neuroplasticity, and the impact of negative messages on pain and return to work.

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• The power of learned optimism

  How 'learned optimism' can improve return to work outcomes: Breaking down Theo Feldbrugge's webinar presentation.

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• Video webinar: Improving Return to Work Motivation with Optimism

  Theo Feldbrugge discusses the impact of optimism / pessimism on return to work.

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• Decision-making justice: Part two

  Another must read for claims / case managers: how you cannot afford to get it wrong, and how you can get it right.

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• Decision-making justice Part 1.

  A good decision making process is worth its weight in platinum, making this a key read for claims staff and decision makers.

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• Emotional resilience: 2

  This second of a two-part series investigates identifying pessimistic thinking in employees, and improving optimism and emotional resilience in the workplace.

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• Emotional resilience: 1

  This first of a two-part series investigates the negative health and work effects of pessimism, and how fostering emotional resilience improves wellness and business outcomes.

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• Costs of 'job strain' related depression

  What is job strain? How is it linked to depression? And what are the associated costs? New Australian research has the answers...

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• Flagging the obstacle course of bad outcomes

  From the hot tubs of New Zealand to the bread and butter of a RTW Coordinator's work.

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• Sophie's choices (a case study)

  A rehab provider who addresses the human impact of injury restarts stalled RTW for a disempowered young worker.

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• What's work got to do...got to do with it?

  Returning to work is even harder if the work itself feels meaningless. What makes a job meaningful?

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• Things have gotta change: back pain and why our thinking is all wrong

  When it comes to back pain, we don't have the right vocabulary - and we need it. The right words can inform the correct way of thinking.

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• Different states of whiplash

  Epidemiological studies show that whiplash rates vary enormously between jurisdictions. Why?

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• Are you having a laugh?

  The benefits of humour in the workplace.

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• Video presentation: Psychosocial ergonomics

  Job design includes the physical layout, AND how jobs fit the person's psyche. Deadlines, flexible work practices, control, and workplace culture need to be addressed to prevent and manage physical and mental health problems.

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• Frustrated by "victims"?

  People who believe they've been treated unfairly have lower functional ability than those who think that they've had a fair go. How can you get them past the victim mentality?

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• Rehab Providers a mystery to you?

  This Q&A for employers covers the Who, What, When and How of Rehabilitation Providers

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• Discrimination, harassment and RTW

  How can employers avoid real (or perceived) discrimination and harassment during the RTW process?

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• More than medical

  Some people have a harder time managing their injury and returning to work than others. Are medical issues usually responsible?

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• Fact sheet: PSYCHO WHAAT? PSYCHOSOCIAL!

  The most common barriers to RTW are "psychosocial". Getting to know them makes it possible to overcome them.

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• What do RTW Professionals need to know about CBT?

  The basics of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and how it can be used to resolve difficult RTW cases.

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• Manage people, not musculoskeletal symptoms

  Ignoring the non-physical causes of musculoskeletal problems leads to very poor outcomes in this all too familiar case study.

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• Conflict Cookie #3: Managing conflict

  It's a waste to sweep cookie crumbs under the carpet, and the same goes for conflict. Don't ignore workplace conflict: manage it.

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• A flag is a flag is a flag

  Everyday words can take on different meanings when used by medical practitioners, but to what effect?

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• Getting back to work: an interview with John Stubbs.

  Interview with Cancer Voices Australia executive director and cancer survivor John Stubbs.

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• The carpet-layer made good

  'Chris' was a carpet layer who worked in a small suburban firm.

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• When return to work works best

  RTW Matters interviewed 57-year-old 'Sally', who went straight back to work after sustaining a shoulder injury. We learn what helped - and what didn't.

Archived Articles 1 - 4 of 4

• Nursing a healthy return to work journey

  Take 10 factors for RTW success and 10 for failure. Click on the ones you want to achieve - or remedy - and uncover the clues!

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• DON'T follow the leader: Cranky pants Rudd illustrates the importance of a healthy work / life balance

  A little disrespect goes a long way. Our work-obsessed PM takes time out mid flight to illustrate why we all need to work, rest and play.

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• Importance of preventitive stress management

  Early detection and intervention are the keys when it comes to work-related stress.

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• The disability support pension process: unnecessarily stressful?

  Qualified assessors the key to determining disability pension eligibility.

Research 1 - 43 of 43

• How an occupational safety approach can prevent vicarious trauma

  A Churchill Fellowship report calls for a fundamental shift in how organisations view and manage vicarious trauma.

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• Healthy workplaces create healthy bottom lines

  When workers feel their employer truly cares about protecting their mental health everyone is richer for it.

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• There’s more to RTW than just getting back to work

  Successful RTW isn't just about what happens back at work. It’s a complex dance that involves personal issues and social and organisational support.

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• How supervisors can prevent staff burnout

  Supervisors’ personal experiences of burnout, their attitudes towards mental health and the quality of their relationship with employees affect how well they identify and deal with the early signs of worker burnout.

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• Culture not trauma — a new approach to identifying and preventing mental harm in first responders: Part 2

  A study highlights the importance of addressing ‘moral injury’, organisational practices and psychosocial safety to promote the well-being of first responders and prevent psychological harm.

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• ‘This is so unfair’. Preventing perceptions of injustice after a work injury.

  A sense of injustice is common among injured workers and can prolong their suffering. What causes it? And how can we prevent it?

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• Culture not trauma — a new approach to identifying and preventing mental harm in first responders (Part 1)

  A study suggests it’s time for a rethink on what causes distress in first responders and how to prevent and treat it.

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• ‘I rest my case’ — the evidence is in on psychosocial hazards for law teachers

  Universities need to support student well-being, but this requires them to support the well-being of their teachers too. Some simple but effective changes would reduce the psychosocial risks for law teachers.

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• ‘You look much prettier when you smile’ — emerging psychosocial risks in the hospitality industry

  A study identifies some new psychosocial risks in hospitality jobs and proposes a way to assess them.

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• What gets in the way of physios using the biopsychosocial model for persistent pain?

  What things make it harder or easier for physiotherapists to use a biopsychosocial approach when treating patients with persistent musculoskeletal pain?

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• Let’s (not just) get physical — psychosocial hazards play a role in musculoskeletal disorders too

  Three recent studies show how important it is for workplaces to focus on identifying and controlling psychosocial as well as physical hazards if they want to reduce musculoskeletal disorders.

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• Do you see what I see? — there’s safety in unity

  A study suggests that when employers and workers agree on what workplace risks are and how to deal with them — especially psychosocial risks — it can lead to a safer and healthier work environment.

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• A Wysa approach to recovery from work-related injury

  A study of an AI drive app shows that digital psychosocial interventions can improve recovery for people with work-related injuries.

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• Do inspections by regulators prevent psychosocial risks at work?

  A study found that visits by inspectors can improve how companies manage psychosocial risks

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• Be a caring climate engineer — a roadmap for cultivating healthier and more successful workplaces

  Evidence shows that a caring environment can have a powerful impact on workers’ mental health outcomes.

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• Can work health and safety management systems address psychosocial risks?

  Using anonymous data in workplace risk assessments, taking the results seriously and having a systematic approach to managing them can help organisations deal with psychosocial risks.

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• Workplace bullying and sick leave — a 2-way street

  Bullying increases the risk of workers getting sick and taking time off from work, both in the short term and the long term.

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• How do regulators respond to complaints about psychosocial and physical hazards? And how should they? — Part 1

  A recent study reveals that when it comes to workplace hazards, work, health and safety inspectors treat psychosocial hazards differently from physical and musculoskeletal hazards.

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• Mind and mood — how psychosocial factors shape recovery from surgery

  Research shows that our emotional and mental state can influence how well we heal and bounce back from surgery.

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• Job demands as psychosocial hazards — reducing the risks through the power of nature and virtual reality

  A study suggests that taking a break, getting some exercise and spending time in nature — either in reality or virtually — can help to control the psychosocial risks associated with job demands.

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• The 'wicked' problem of addressing psychosocial hazards — lessons from abroad

  What makes it so hard to effectively assess and implement measures to address psychosocial hazards in the workplace? A study offers insights into the challenges and barriers and how to overcome them.

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• RTW expectations built on trust, workplace support and actions of treatment provider

  RTW expectations predict recovery from musculoskeletal injury. Workplace supports, trust and the actions of healthcare providers all shape RTW expectations, according to NZ workers

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• Quality of work predicts mental health

  There is a strong link between work quality and mental health, and some workers are slugged by multiple psychosocial negatives, according to new Canadian / Australian research.

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• The high cost of losing value at work

  Supervisors need to recognise that workers who feel socially devalued at work suffer health and wellbeing consequences, according to experts who conducted a massive review of the available research.

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• Call centre workers tired of faking it

  Feeling one way and having to act another is a hallmark of call centre work. The resulting emotional exhaustion has implications not only for the health and work satisfaction of call centre workers but for the people who use their services.

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• Motivational interviewing and RTW

  Motivational interviewing is very beneficial, according to injured workers who need practical help or more information about navigating workers' compensation systems. However, workers who are doing ok on their own don't benefit.

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• Dying for more job control

  Large Australian study links low job control to higher mortality risk.

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• Targeted learning eases job strain in the ICU

  A 5-day intervention for ICU nurses in France establishes that individual workers can learn to cope better with stressful and demanding work.

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• Angry nurses have more MSDs - and there's a link to social demands / support

  Nurses who think they offer their colleagues more support than they get in return are more likely to be angry, and develop an MSD, than those who describe a fair balance.

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• Putting the "social" back in biopsychosocial

  What does the international evidence say about the impact of compensation systems, health care systems and significant others on workability for people with lower back pain?

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• Introducing ROSES

  In the search to find a screening tool to assist workers with MSDs and common mental health problems, will an Orebro by any other name smell as sweet?

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• Fair winners, fair losers in dispute resolution

  What makes dispute resolution outcomes seem fair to workers?

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• How do social functioning, social relationships and compensation influence RTW?

  Understanding the factors that influence return to work assists in effective rehabilitation.

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• Research short: Armed against arm pain

  Reducing repetitive work is not the only option to consider when attempting to accommodate arm pain in the workplace.

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• Job control, job demand and workplace health

  Changes in psychosocial aspects of work affect employee health and wellbeing

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• What contributes to recurrent back bother?

  A look at the workplace factors associated with repeat visits to back pain clinics

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• Taking control of arthritis

  Psychosocial approaches to managing arthritis help sufferers make the most of medical care.

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• Fear, expectation and back pain - the evidence

  Knowing what psychosocial factors affect recovery from low back pain can help target employee interventions

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• Back pain and pessimism: A vicious cycle-The evidence

  Pessimistic beliefs about back pain can prolong suffering and prevent proper treatment

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• Despair and low back pain: Connecting as a starting point-The evidence

  People with chronic low back pain can lose their sense of control over life, a major demotivating factor

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• Predicting and preventing long-term disability

  Recognising the risk factors for long term disability can help employers reduce the compensation burden

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• The simple way to predict RTW outcomes? Ask!

  A short survey can predict a worker's RTW outcomes

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• Non-surgical treatment options for chronic back pain

  Exercise, behavioural and multimodal programs: What works for RTW and why?