Grant: Healthy and Productive Work - Partnership Grants

Central to this initiative is that many physical and mental health conditions cause episodic disability. Episodic disabilities are intermittent, often unpredictable, and may be largely invisible to others until symptoms are severe. Examples are depression, anxiety, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's, colitis and arthritis. Taken together, they are among the most common and costly chronic conditions in Canada. The nature of episodic conditions creates unique challenges for workplace disability management, particularly in implementing privacy and duty to accommodate policies. Objectives: The aim of this partnership is to enhance the work sustainability of Canadians with chronic, episodic mental and physical health conditions through the development of easily accessed, evidence-based tools, resources and training that protects privacy and facilitates communication and accommodation planning among workers, supervisors and others in the workplace. Objectives are: 1) consolidate and enhance existing evidence for toolkit development; 2) develop new evidence-informed resources, including a communication decision-making tool, interactive job analysis and accommodation planning tool, and skills training workshops for supervisors and HR/disability managers; 3) pilot test and evaluate the toolkit in diverse workplaces, including conducting cost analyses; 4) expand the evidence base to include greater attention to sex/gender, age/life course, diverse employment contexts and episodic conditions; 5) develop new researcher capacity in disability studies; 6) build new workplace partnerships for testing and dissemination.Methods: We will use a theory-driven, integrated evaluation approach that comprises researchers, partners and other stakeholders to develop and evaluate the toolkit and that follows a recommended four-stage life cycle: 1) evaluation of needs; 2) toolkit development and initial implementation; 3) mature implementation; 4) outcome and economic evaluation and dissemination. Partners: Our identification of team members is strategic and adds value compared to an approach that focuses on a single health condition or type of workplace. Research team members have expertise in psychology, economics, health sciences, ergonomics, public health, and knowledge translation. Partners are five national health charities of conditions often causing episodic disabilities and four workplace focused partners. They are: the Canadian Mental Health Association, Crohn's & Colitis Canada, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Realize, The Arthritis Society, the Institute for Work & Health, the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in theWorkplace, Mindful Employer Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Labour. All partners have a mandate to improve the inclusiveness of work and the employment participation of workers with episodic disabilities. They are at the forefront of progressive thinking about workplace disability policies and practices and/or are leaders in creating innovative tools and resources. Outcomes: Our partnership will produce important scholarly and social benefits, including: new tools, resources and skills training applicable to a range of episodic conditions and contexts; providing new trainees and a cadre of early career investigators with research and leadership experience in disability studies; greater understanding of the personal, social and economic value of addressing the workplace needs of individuals with chronic, episodic disabilities; knowledge mobilization and dissemination plans that will result in a lasting legacy of our partnership.