Handbook of Return to Work

Dr. Izabela Z. Schultz is Professor of Rehabilitation Psychology and Director of Graduate Program in Vocational Rehabilitation Counselling in the Department of Educational and Counselling and Special Education at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Schultz is doubly board certified as diplomate in clinical psychology, American Board of Professional Psychology and as diplomate of the American Board of Vocational Experts. She has received international awards for her innovative research on prediction of occupational disability and professional leadership awards for major contributions to medico-legal aspects of rehabilitation psychology. She has published several books and numerous seminal papers and book chapters in the field of occupational disability and rehabilitation. She is an editor of the Work and Disability Section of Springer’s Psychological Injury and the Law and a founding member of this international journal. Recently, she completed, with Dr. Sally Rogers, thepioneering Work Accommodation and Retention in Mental Health (Springer). Dr. Schultz is also a co-chair of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Assessment and Treatment of Persons with Disabilities. She has been leading development of best-evidence-informed practice guidelines in early musculoskeletal pain interventions, in work accommodation and retention in mental health, and in assessment and treatment of persons with disabilities. Dr. Robert Gatchel is the Nancy P. & John G. Penson Endowed Professor of Clinical Health Psychology and the Chairman of Psychology, College of Science at the University of Texas at Arlington. He also holds two other positions: clinical research director at the Eugene McDermott Center for Pain Management at the University of Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and director of biopsychosocial research at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. He is the author 23 books, 106 book chapters and 318 scientific research articles. His clinical research, most of it in the areas of the etiology, assessment and treatment of pain and disability, has been continuously funded over the past 30 years from grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He also received a prestigious Research Scientist Award from NIH and has been honored with awards from various organizations such as the American Psychological Association, the American Pain Society, the American Academy of Pain Management, the International Association for Dental Research, the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine, the North American Spine Society, to name a few.

Preface.- Impairment, Disability and Return to Work.- Current Models of Return to Work.- Concept of Margin of Maneuver in Return to Work.- Understanding Motivation to Return to Work: Economy of Gains and Losses.- Readiness to Return to Work and Self-efficacy.- Social Organization of Return to Work at the Workplace.- Health System Coverage, Benefit Design and Return to Work.- PART 2: MEASUREMENT AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES: TOWARDS TRANSDISCIPLINARITY.- Integrative Conceptual Framework for Barriers and Facilitators in Return to Work Intervention Planning.- Measurement of Return to Work and Stay at Work Outcomes.- Measurement and Assessment Challenges in Risk Identification and Prediction of Return to Work.- Methodological Issues in Return to Work Intervention Research.- Program Evaluation in Return to Work.- Functional Assessment and Measurement of Work Limitations.- PART 3: EVIDENCE-BASED RETURN TO WORK APPROACHES.- Integration of Clinical and Occupational Interventions.- Early Intervention.- Work Accommodations.- Workplace-Based Interventions.- Working with the Stakeholders: Multisystem Interaction.- Participatory Ergonomics.- Cognitive- Behavioral Approach in Return to Work.- Motivational Interviewing and Return to Work.- Disability Management.- Organizational Policies and Practices.- PART 4: BEST RETURN TO WORK INTERVENTIONS AND PRACTICES IN KEY DIAGNOSES.- Return to Work in Musculoskeletal Disorders.- Return to Work among Women with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.- Return to Work in Cancer.- Return to Work in Depression and Anxiety.- Return to Work in Serious Mental Illness.- Return to Work in Mild Cognitive Disorders.- Return to Work in Moderate to Severe Brain Injury.- Return to Work in Spinal Cord Injury.- PART 5: RESEARCH, POLICY AND PRACTICE DIRECTIONS.- Future Research, Policy and Practice Directions.