Return to work, accommodation and support

IWH has a long history of conducting research on practices, policies and processes that help workers sustainably return to work after an illness or an injury. This page pulls together IWH research and resources on employer supports, job accommodations and modifications, as well as other related issues such as disclosure of disability.

Featured

An overhead shot of a boardroom table full of people
At Work article

IWH knowledge transfer and exchange approach a ‘perfect fit’ for episodic disabilities project

This article illustrates how a seven-year partnership project used IWH’s approach to KTE to develop and share usable outputs from the research findings.
Published: September 8, 2025
An overhead shot of a boardroom table full of people
At Work article

IWH knowledge transfer and exchange approach a ‘perfect fit’ for episodic disabilities project

For each IWH research project, researchers and knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) staff put a lot of focus on how to tap into partner expertise to refine research goals and facilitate the sharing and uptake of research findings. But how does that look in practice? This article illustrates how a seven-year partnership project used IWH’s approach to KTE to develop and share usable outputs from the research findings.
Published: September 2025
Business professionals in casual wear, sit around a table in a boardroom, with blurred background
Impact case study

Being part of an IWH research partnership helped health charities meet their communities’ needs

The seven-year partnership project, titled Accommodating and Communicating about Episodic Disabilities (ACED), showcases the role partner organizations can play in developing user-friendly research products and in disseminating these products more widely. The partnership enhanced both the quality of the research and the partners’ ability to serve their clients.
Published: August 2025
A doctor with a patient who has his arm in a sling.
Research Highlights

Telementoring program addresses return-to-work challenges for Ontario health-care providers

An IWH study has found that Ontario health-care providers face a range of challenges when treating workers with a work-related injury or illness and helping them return to work—from communication issues with compensation boards to the complexities of working with multiple parties. The researchers also found that a telementoring program called ECHO Occupational Environmental Medicine helped providers overcome some of these challenges.
Published: July 2025
Journal article
Journal article

Workplace programs to reduce post-traumatic stress injuries work disability: first responder experiences

Published: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, May 2025
A woman with a leg cast and walker walks up a road.
At Work article

Injured workers face mental health challenges beyond diagnosable conditions

Workers with a work-related physical injury that takes them off the job can have a wide range of mental health experiences, beyond diagnosable conditions. That’s according to an IWH study which also found that differences in workers’ mental health after an injury were linked to return-to-work outcomes. Those reporting both a mental health condition and the poorest wellbeing had longer, more expensive compensation claims.
Published: April 2025
An alarm clock sits on a computer keyboard.
Research Highlights

Examining four types of job disruptions due to a health condition, and the differences expected when workplace support needs are met

Job disruptions are common among workers living with chronic physical and/or mental health conditions, an IWH study has found. The study investigated the effects of workplace supports had on four types of job disruptions.
Published: March 2025
NSC Safety + Health
IWH in the media

Study: Pain levels drive workers’ opioid use after injuries

Severe pain is the main factor associated with opioid use after a work-related injury, regardless of the employee’s return-to-work timeline, a recent study out of Canada suggests. Findings show that 35.6 per cent of the workers used opioids more than once in the past year. However, those who experienced severe post-injury pain were nearly three times more likely to use opioids than the participants who had mild or zero pain.
Published: Safety+Health, March 2025
A bottle of pills spilled on a table.
Research Highlights

Severe pain, not pressure to return to work or lack of accommodation offer, linked to opioid use post-injury

An IWH study found that among a group of injured workers in Ontario, those who experienced severe pain were more likely to use opioids than those who had no or only mild pain—regardless of whether they felt they had to return to work too soon, or were offered work accommodations.
Published: February 2025
rehab and community care logo
IWH in the media

Injured workers have higher rates of opioid poisonings than the general population.

People who have previously experienced a work-related injury are more likely to experience opioid poisonings and other opioid-related harms than the general population. That’s according to research conducted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC), using data from 1.7 million Ontario workers who had an accepted lost-time workers’ compensation claim between 1983 and 2019.
Published: Rehab & Community Care Medicine , February 2025
Journal article
Journal article

Opioid use among injured workers: pain and the return-to-work experience

Published: Occupational and Environmental Medicine, February 2025