Work Injuries and Mental Health Problems
Date
2022-06-27
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Work injuries and mental health problems continue to inflict hardship on workers while imposing severe costs on organizations. Yet no comprehensive attempt to summarize the relationship between work injuries and mental health problems exists despite evidence of their association. Further, theoretical development of the relationship between work injuries and mental health problems has stalled in recent years. I address these issues by conducting three studies to explain the association between work injuries and mental health problems, conditions shaping and mechanisms underlying this association, and the expected trajectory of mental health problems prior to and following a work injury. Study 1 is the first comprehensive meta-analysis to look at the relationship between work injuries and mental health problems, ordering effects (i.e., work injuriesmental health problems, mental health problemswork injuries), and key conditions. Study 1 indicates the association between work injuries and mental health problems is small but robust, with larger effect sizes emerging when mental health problems are measured following a work injury as opposed to preceding a work injury. Study 2 examines cognitive mechanisms linking work injuries and mental health, as well as a key social condition distinguishing the work injury-mental health problems relationship using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging (Raina et al., 2009). Study 2 results suggest maladaptive cognitions link prior work injury with later mental health problems, and memory-related issues link prior mental health problems with later work injury. Further, some evidence emerged for the role of social support mitigating the relationship between prior work injury and later mental health problems, but not vice versa. Finally, Study 3 examines the relationship between work injuries and mental health over time through an intensive longitudinal survey of young workers. Results from this study indicate that young workers tend to be resilient when confronting a work injury, with minor initial differences in mental health. Altogether, the results from these studies have important implications for occupational health and safety initiatives surrounding the prevention, recovery, and reporting of work injuries and mental health problems.
Description
Keywords
Cognition, Depression, Life events, Mental health, Safety, Work injuries
Citation
Granger, S. (2022) Work Injuries and Mental Health Problems (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.