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.
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