title: The association of social functioning, social relationships and the receipt of compensation with time to return to work following unintentional injuries to Victorian workers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Understanding individual factors associated with return to work (RTW) post-injury is an important goal of compensation systems research. The aim of the present study was to determine factors associated with time to return to work following acute unintentional injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective cohort study was conducted in Victoria, Australia. The cohort comprised 133 persons who were employed at the time they were admitted to one of three study hospitals. Baseline health status data was obtained retrospectively at one-week post-injury and participants were further surveyed at 1, 6, 12, 26 and 52 weeks post-injury to measure recovery. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to examine the association between potential prognostic factors and time to RTW during the 12 month study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the end of 12 months follow-up, 81.2% of the study cohort had returned to work. Older age, increased injury severity, self reported symptomatic pain and poor mental health at 1 week post-injury were associated with extended time to RTW. A significant statistical interaction between the receipt of compensation and high social functioning as measured by the SF-36 or strong social relationships as measured by the Assessment of Quality of Life was associated with earlier RTW. Participants reporting strong social relationships and high social functioning at 1 week post-injury and entitled to injury compensation returned to work 2.05 and 3.66 times earlier respectively, than similar participants with no entitlement to compensation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both injury-related and psychosocial factors were associated with the duration of time to RTW following acute unintentional injuries. This study replicated previously reported findings on social functioning and compensation from an independent acute trauma sample. Programs or policies to improve social functioning early post-injury may provide opportunities to improve the duration of time to RTW following injury.
authors.affiliation: Monash Injury Research Institute, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia. Fiona.Clay@monash.edu
authors.forename: Fiona J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Clay
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fitzharris
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: Roderick J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.forename: Wendy L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Watson
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018582:Sick Leave; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014739:Victoria; D014937:Work; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation; D014942:Workers' Compensation