National and international comparative research

In brief

  • Many Canadian provinces and international jurisdictions use similar outcome measures to assess the performance of workers’ compensation systems, including severe work-related injuries and long duration claims.
  • Analyses of these outcome measures through a comparative approach are more powerful than those from single jurisdiction study because it is possible to control for additional sources of variation that may be driving the findings and to take advantage of natural policy experiments.

National comparisons

  • Our national research compares severe injuries and long duration claims within and across BC, Manitoba and Ontario, in collaboration with co-investigators from the Institute for Work & Health in Ontario and the University of Manitoba.

International comparisons

  • Our international research focuses on return to work outcomes after injury/illness in jurisdictions in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, in collaboration with with Australian and New Zealand researchers and compensation boards.
  • The objectives of this international comparative work are to link work disability management policy to return to work outcomes through a policy framework; use and develop comparative data across participating jurisdictions; and investigate the drivers of differences in severe work disability trends.

Related publications

Work disability duration among mobile workers: does intra-provincial mobility matter as much as inter-provincial mobility?

Journal article
Macpherson RA, Tamburic L, Neis B McLeod CB.
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2024 Jan 19. DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000003050.

Do regional labor market conditions matter for temporary work disability duration? A multilevel analysis of workers’ compensation claims in five Canadian provinces

Journal article
Macpherson RA, Amick III BC, Collie A, Koehoorn M, Smith PM, McLeod CB.
American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 2023 May 28. DOI: 10.1002/ajim.23489. Online ahead of print.

A framework for understanding how variation in health care service delivery affects work disability management

Journal article
Sharpe K, McGrail K, Mustard C, McLeod C.
Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2022 Feb 10. Epub ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-021-10016-5.

Exploring differences in work disability duration by size of firm in Canada and Australia

Journal article
Macpherson R, Lane TJ, Collie A, McLeod CB.
Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2022 Jan 4. Epub ahead of print.

Mental health, education, and work in Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States: A comparative, life course investigation

Thesis
Minh A.
Vancouver: The University of British Columbia; 2021.

Do differences in work disability duration by interjurisdictional claim status vary by industry and jurisdictional context?

Journal article
Macpherson R, Koehoorn M, Neis B, McLeod C.
Occup Environ Med. 2021 Jan 27;oemed-2020-106917.

Age Differences in Work-Disability Duration Across Canada: Examining Variations by Follow-Up Time and Context

Journal article
Fan JK, Macpherson RA, Smith PM, Harris MA, Gignac MAM, McLeod CB.
Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 2020 Sep 10. [Epub ahead of print].

Urban-rural Differences in the Duration of Injury-related Work Disability in Six Canadian Provinces

Journal article
Macpherson RA, Amick BC, Collie A, Hogg-Johnson S, Koehoorn M, Smith PM, McLeod CB.
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2020 Mar 5. [Epub ahead of print].

Do Differences in Work Disability Duration Between Men and Women Vary by Province in Canada?

Journal article
Macpherson RA, Koehoorn M, Fan J, Quirke W, Amick BC, Kraut A, Mustard CA, McLeod CB.
J Occup Rehabil. 2019 Sep; 29(3):560-568.

Age, sex, and the changing disability burden of compensated work-related musculoskeletal disorders in Canada and Australia

Journal article
Macpherson R, Lane T, Collie A, McLeod C.
BMC Public Health. 2018;18:758.

Does time off work after injury vary by jurisdiction? A comparative study of eight Australian workers’ compensation systems

Journal article
Collie A, Lane T, Hassani-Mahmooei B, Thompson J, McLeod C.
BMJ Open. 2016 May; 6(5): e010910.

Contact: Chris McLeod

a place of mind, The University of British Columbia

School of Population and Public Health
2206 East Mall,
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Tel: 604-822-2772
Partnership for Work, Health and Safety
2206 East Mall,
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada
Tel: 604-822-8544

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