Predictors of work participation for Māori 3 months after injury

Abstract

An important rehabilitation outcome for injured Māori is a timely sustainable return to work. This article identifies the factors influencing working after injury in an attempt to reduce the individual, social, and economic costs. Māori participants in the Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study were interviewed about preinjury and injury-related factors. Among Māori participants, 521 were working for pay prior to injury; 64% were working 3 months postinjury. Factors identified, using modified Poisson regression, that predicted working include financial security (aRR = 1.34, 95% CI [1.12, 1.61]), an injury of low (aRR = 1.76, 95% CI [1.26, 2.44]) or moderate severity (aRR = 1.86, 95% CI [1.34, 2.59]), professional occupations (aRR = 1.22, 95% CI [1.03, 1.44]), and jobs with less repetitive hand movement (aRR = 1.17, 95% CI [1.01, 1.34]). These factors identified warrant attention when planning interventions to enable rehabilitation back to the workplace.