Program > Friday > 10:30 > Session symposium. Symposium: Research into action: Addressing the stigma experienced by injured workers

Paper: From research to action - an advocate's perspective
Author(s) and Affiliation(s):
Steve Mantis, RAACWI
Bonnie Kirsh, University of Toronto
Session : symposium. Symposium: Research into action: Addressing the stigma experienced by injured workers
Day/Time: Friday at 10:30
Room: Giovanni Room, 2nd Floor
Objectives:

• To share our knowledge of stigma experienced by injured workers.
• To share our experiences in building partnerships between RAACWI and decision-makers at the WSIB to engage in the development of new practices and behaviours.
• To share the lessons learned in our "Blue Sky Discussions."

Methods:

Participants will follow the development of RAACWI's first "Blue Sky Discussion" with WSIB management staff. We will explore:
• some research results describing the effects of stigma on injured workers;
• the importance of building trust and common ground in initial stages and some of the tools used to facilitate that process;
• the role of research and researchers;
• the dynamics of evolving relationships;
• the importance of having differing view points involved in the process, and;
• how this initiative has changed the individuals involved.

Results:

Some of the results achieved (in partnership with the Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury [RAACWI], the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board [WSIB] set out to define injured worker stigma, recognize it in language, behaviour and attitudes, and find ways to eliminate it. Using staff-training opportunities, partnering with other internal outreach initiatives, examining the values we look for when hiring new staff, and beginning a dialogue with senior management and front-line staff, the WSIB is working to reveal the “inconvenient truth” about injured worker stigma).

Conclusions:

As we are focusing on a knowledge exchange project, our conclusions are still unfolding. In the interim, I believe we have found a cooperative model of engaging staff and volunteers from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, both personally and organizationally, in a project to implement current research findings. In the process, we have built and strengthened relationships that allow us to hear each others' perspectives, allowing for different views, but finding common ground and moving forward with enthusiasm and heart.