Affiliation:
1. Vancouver Island University
Abstract
Abstract
Purpose Facing difficulties related to the workers’ compensation process has the potential to negatively impact the psychological health of occupational injury claimants and may hinder recovery and return-to-work outcomes. This research investigates how the relationship between physical injury characteristics and claimants’ perceptions of their interactions with case managers impact psychological symptomatology and pain-related disability. It was anticipated that case-manager interactions would mediate the relationship between chronic pain and pain-related disability through their impact on depression, anxiety, and stress. Additionally, it was posited that case manager interactions would mediate the relationships between injury type/visibility and psychological health.
Methods A cohort of 210 compensation claimants from British Columbia, Canada, completed the Graded Chronic Pain Scale-Revised (GCPS-R); the Interpersonal Justice (INTPJ) and Informational Justice (INFOJ) subscales of the Perceived Justice of Compensation Process Scale; the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales 21-item (DASS); the Pain Disability Index (PDI) and a demographic and claim information questionnaire.
Results After controlling for potential confounds, bootstrapped multiple mediation analysis revealed that perceived justice and DASS collectively mediate the relationship between GCPS-R and PDI: INTPJ (bi* = 0.06, BCa CI [0.02, 0.12]), INFOJ (bi* = 0.08, BCa CI [0.02, 0.15]). Further, the relationship between injury visibility and psychological health is mediated by INTPJ (bi* = 0.45, BCa CI [0.23, 0.70]) and INFOJ (bi* = 0.38, BCa CI [0.17, 0.63]).
Conclusions These findings suggest that claims involving complex conditions are associated with poorer interactions between claimants and case managers, which magnifies psychological distress and pain-related disability.
Publisher
Research Square Platform LLC