Grant: Knowledge Synthesis Grant

Work disability for musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders is a costly issue, impacting workers' health and workplace productivity. Recently, many studies issued from diverse research traditions have explored the work disability determinants and the best ways to facilitate return-to-work (RTW) of disabled workers. A common agreement among many scientists is that RTW depends largely on social and environmental factors, not only on personal factors. Nevertheless, due to the diversity of study settings and studies' type, it remains unclear what are the core elements of intervention and implementation that may be "universally" necessary in order to facilitate RTW. Recent landmark reviews in large health and non-health contexts have shown that the knowledge of these core elements is essential in order to (re)build effective intervention designs, adapted to the context where the intervention is implemented. In light of what is known from critical reviews, a number of randomized controlled trials and qualitative studies on processes and effectiveness of multiple types of RTW interventions in various contexts, it is necessary to "map" the different aspects of this literature in a coherent and interpretative manner using well defined elements of implementation research that have been already applied in health care. This project aims to use a narrative review approach to synthesize the scientific literature on the management of disability for MSK disorders. Study deliverables will be the core elements of intervention and implementation of use for RTW program developers across communities, facilitating program implementation in diverse contexts. According to the specifications of this narrative method, we are assembling an interdisciplinary team of researchers and decision makers who has a comprehensive understanding of the different RTW models and contexts on which MSK disability is managed in practice.