title: Barriers and facilitators to work reintegration and burn survivors' perspectives on educating work colleagues.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Work reintegration constitutes a major milestone in the rehabilitation process of adults who have sustained a burn. Research studies with other conditions demonstrated that open, explicit communication about the worker's condition and potential limitations may facilitate this transition. However, the best approach to enable this discussion to occur has yet to be described. The aim of this exploratory qualitative study was to investigate burn survivors' and clinicians' perspectives of the barriers and facilitators to work reintegration that could be addressed through education of work colleagues, which information to communicate to the workplace and the most effective method to disseminate this knowledge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five semi-structured focus groups were conducted with three groups of informants including: (1) 13 burn survivors who had already returned to work; (2) 7 who were planning on returning; and (3) 9 burn care professionals. Qualitative data were inductively analyzed employing constant comparative techniques.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Key barriers and facilitators that were identified included residual impairments, individual characteristics, support from the social environment, work accommodations and resources from the healthcare and compensation systems. Burn survivors agreed that return to work efforts were not adequately supported and that education should be provided to work colleagues about the burn and rehabilitation process, but that information on residual impairments should be communicated judiciously as it may be used prejudiciously against those seeking new employment. In the latter case, it is preferable to inform the workplace of their strengths and abilities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Extensive literature demonstrating the benefits of educational programs for the peers and teachers of pediatric burn survivors when they return to school already exists. This study provides evidence that there is a need for a similar process for adult burn survivors returning to work. The educational material must be versatile enough so that it can be customized to individual burn survivor's needs and the environments in which they work.
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Canada.
authors.forename: Ngoc Tram
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Canada.
authors.forename: Mélyssa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lorrain
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Canada.
authors.forename: Joe Nayima
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Pognon-Hanna
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Canada.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Elfassy
authors.affiliation: Hôpital de réadaptation Villa Medica, Canada.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Calva
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Canada; Hôpital de réadaptation Villa Medica, Canada; Centre de recherche, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Electronic address: bernadette.nedelec@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Bernadette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nedelec
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D002056:Burns / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D062707:Return to Work; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D017741:Survivors; D017132:Workplace; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Burn; Co-workers; Education; Occupational therapy; Return to work; Work reintegration