Return to work and disability management

Session details

Date:

Time:

Location:

Zoom videoconferencing

Didactic presentation by:

Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia

Session objectives

At the end of this session, participants should be able to:

  1. Explain the role of allied health practitioners in return to work and disability management
  2. Recognize resources for suitable workplace accommodations through a biopsychosocial framework
  3. Summarize the "Seven principles for successful return to work”

Session resources

Access to Work
Access to Work in the UK helps workers get or stay in work if they have a physical or mental health condition or disability. The support provided depends on the worker's need. Source: UK Government
Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists - Find an OT
Find occupational therapy resources across Canada. Source: Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists
COPM The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure
The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure is an evidence-based outcome measure designed to capture a client’s self-perception of performance in everyday living, over time. Originally published in 1991, it is used in over 40 countries and has been translated into more than 35 languages. Source: COPM
Didactic presentation: Return to work and disability management
In this presentation, Dr. Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia explains the role of allied health practitioners in return to work and disability management, key principles for successful return to work, and identifying resources for suitable workplace accommodations.
Download the PDF(515.94 KB)
NOC Career Handbook
The Career Handbook provides global ratings assigned to occupations to further define worker characteristics and other indicators related to occupations that are important for career exploration and informed career decision-making. It includes information on aptitudes, interests, involvement with data/people/things, physical activities, environmental conditions, education/training indicators, career progression and work settings. This counselling resource is used by a wide range of professionals for many applications, and by individuals engaged in self-directed career planning. Source: Government of Canada
O*Net online
The O*NET program is the United State's primary source of occupational information. Central to the project is the O*NET database, containing information on hundreds of standardized and occupation-specific descriptors. Source: O*Net
Ontario Self Management Program
Funded by the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, the Online Self-Management Program is made available Province-wide through a partnership between the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, Living Healthy Champlain, Bruyère Continuing Care, and the Regional Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs. Source: Self-Management Program of Ontario
Seven ‘Principles’ for Successful Return to Work
What do employers need to do to enhance a worker’s return to work (RTW) after an injury or illness? The evidence-based advice contained in Seven “Principles” for Successful Return to Work provides some answers. The principles are based on an Institute for Work & Health (IWH) systematic review of RTW studies, which identified the elements contributing to a successful return to work. Source: Institute for Work & Health

About presenter

Dr. Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia is an occupational therapist and assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science at the University of Toronto, where he also holds the inaugural Emily Geldsaler Grant Early Career Professorship in Workplace Mental Health.

Through an occupational lens, his research program is a systematic study of work disability prevention, return to work and disability management. His approach is designed to produce results directly applicable to identifying and assessing risk, and to developing interventions for preventing or improving high-risk behaviours in the workplace.

Nowrouzi-Kia’s work is motivated by efforts in work disability prevention that extend beyond efforts to prevent or cure diseases from a purely physical perspective to more holistic approaches. The major tenets of his work use a biopsychosocial perspective to understand work disability and incorporate personal characteristics (e.g. psychosocial) and environmental (e.g., health-care system, workplace, workers’ compensation system) factors in improving health outcomes.

Case presentations

Most of the learning in ECHO happens through presenting and discussing case presentations. If you have a case you would like to present, please submit a completed case presentation form to the ECHO OEM project coordinator.

Physicians presenting a case may bill OHIP for case conferences (billing codes K707 or K701).