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Stories for Reprint
Arthritis Cause Many to Make Changes at Work
By Ferdous Al-Faruque, MARRTC Staff
Canadian researchers have found that people with arthritis tend to change the kind of work they do and reduce their work hours. Some even end up quitting their jobs altogether.
To understand what impact arthritis has on working Canadians, researchers from the Toronto Western Research Institute and the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada in Vancouver followed almost 500 people with the disease over a period of four and a half years. Participants of the study were interviewed every 18 months to see how arthritis had affected their work and private life.
Monique Gignac is a social psychologist at the University of Toronto and principal investigator of the study. She says it's important to understand why people with arthritis leave the workplace so health care providers can find ways to help them stay employed. "Once people do leave their job, it's much harder to get them back," says Gignac. In fact, although more than 1 in 3 people left employment in this study, only 7 percent returned to work.
According to Gignac, 37 percent of the participants dropped out of the workforce and three-fourths of those who did made changes in their employment before they stopped working. She says people don't quit their jobs suddenly, but rather experience a series of events that lead to that decision. "They're starting to make a number of changes early on (that can foreshadow whether they leave the work force)," adds Gignac.
However, people who miss workdays don't necessarily leave their job. According to Gignac, they tended to quit work only when missed days caused other problems such as being unable to take on extra work, arriving late or leaving early, or difficulties with co-workers.
For the remaining 63 percent who stayed employed during the study, about half had reduced their work hours and/or changed the kind of work they were doing. Eighteen percent also reported that they were unable to pursue a job promotion.
According to Gignac, workers with arthritis may not have to leave their jobs if employers and healthcare professionals act early to help them manage their disease while on the job. "There might be a number of ways to prolong people's working lives and avoid these changes just by early awareness and early intervention," she says. Gignac also states many of these changes such as giving people with arthritis flexible hours don't cost anything. Other changes like providing people with simple tools such as ergonomic chairs and keyboards may cost employers in the short-run but eventually pay off.
Arthritis is the third most common chronic condition in Canada and 16 percent of Canadians are afflicted by it according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. The agency also reports that 1 in10 Canadians of working age, between 25 and 64 years, have the disease.
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