Affiliations: School of Rehabilitation, Université de
Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada | Centre for Action in Work Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation, Longueuil, QC, Canada | Department of Organization and Human Resources, School
of Management Sciences, Université du Québec à
Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada | Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of
Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada | Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering,
École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
Abstract: Objective: The Therapeutic Return to Work (TRW) is a comprehensive
rehabilitation process that is centralised in the workplace and consists of a
worker's progressive return to his or her regular work. A programme impact
theory for the TRW and three mechanism hypotheses were developed (Durand et
al., 2003). The objective of this study was to validate the mechanism
hypotheses. Participants: Construction workers who received compensation for low
back pain. Methods: A multiple-case study was carried out. Data on the
programme activities were collected on a repeated basis using validated
measurement instruments and semi-structured interviews of the 20 participants
and the clinicians responsible for them. Analyses were carried out using the
pattern matching technique. Results: The results supported two of the three hypotheses proposed
in the impact theory, specifically, that the development of competent work
behaviours is a key factor in promoting return to work and appears to be
associated with a reduction in work environment constraints, an improvement in
work capacities and the presence of concerted action. Conclusion: This study revealed that rehabilitation interventions
carried out in the workplace and involving workers with low back pain are both
complex and embedded in the social environment, and that the actions taken must
be coordinated in collaboration with various stakeholders.
Keywords: Work rehabilitation, programme impact theory, validation, return to work
