Support groups for injured workers: process and outcomes.

Abstract

We evaluated the efficacy of a support group for injured workers as a low-cost intervention that might modify chronicity and improve outcome among workers' compensation claimants with chronic musculoskeletal disorders. This study examined the impact of support groups on injured workers with musculoskeletal injuries in relation to four health indicators: pain, somatization, depression, and pain-locus-of-control. We held nine support groups between October 1992 and March 1994. A total of 62 subjects completed the groups. The evaluation of the support group program employed a type of quasi-experimental design, a nonequivalent control group design. A comparison group was created for purposes of evaluation from Workers' Compensation Board of Alberta claimants who did not participate in the groups. We found that participation in the support groups did not seem to affect the well-being of injured workers by reducing their levels of pain, somatization, and depression, and/or by altering their pain-locus-of-control. The results do not necessarily rule out any beneficial effects of participating in support groups. However, these methods applied to this type of support group showed no demonstrable effect.