Exploring Mental Health Service Use After Workplace Injury Among Ontario Nurses

Co-leads

Dr. Catherine Goldie, Associate Professor, Queen’s University School of Nursing

Dr. Alyson Mahar, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University School of Nursing

Research Assistants

Victoria Kao, Research Coordinator, Queen’s University School of Nursing

Study Co-investigators

Dr. Aleksandra Zuk, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University School of Nursing

Dr. Joan Tramner, Emerita Professor, Queen’s University School of Nursing

Dr. Joan Almost, Professor, Queen’s University School of Nursing

Dr. Katherine St. Cyr, Postdoctoral Researcher, Queen’s University School of Nursing

Dr. Peter Smith, President & Senior Scientist, Institute for Work & Health

Dr. Sarah Moore-Vasram, Academic Clinician & Nursing Research Lead, Providence Care Centre

Knowledge Users

Henrietta Van Hulle, Vice President of Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Public Services Health & Safety Administration

Jackie Potter, Director of Occupational Health, Safety & Wellness, and Infection Prevention & Control, Providence Care Centre

Joanna Noonan, Director of Occupational Health and Safety, Kingston Health Sciences Centre

Project Manager

Geneviève Paré, Research Manager, Queen’s University School of Nursing

What? This project examines how physical injuries at work affect nurses’ mental health and their use of mental health services. We are creating a new data platform by combining information from workers’ compensation claims (WSIB) with Ontario health records (ICES). This will help us understand what kinds of injuries nurses experience, how often they happen, and what care nurses receive afterward. By following nurses over time, we can see patterns in injuries, recovery, and mental health needs. The project will also compare nurses’ mental health service use before and after an injury, and with people of similar age and background in the general population.

Why? Nurses are injured at work more often than most other workers, and these injuries can lead to stress, anxiety, depression, or trauma. However, we do not yet have a good picture of how injured nurses use mental health services in Ontario and how these services affect their mental health. Understanding these gaps will help workplaces design better supports, improve recovery, and strengthen return-to-work programs.

How? We will study nurses in Ontario who experienced a workplace injury between 2002 and 2022. Their workers’ compensation records will be securely linked with provincial health data to capture injury details, demographic and background information, and mental health service use. Following linkage, the data used for analysis will be de-identified, meaning that direct identifiers will be removed before the research team accesses the analytic dataset. We will examine injury trends over time and compare mental health service use before and after workplace injury. We will also work with nursing leaders and workplace health experts to help interpret the findings and share them in ways that are meaningful and useful for policy, practice, and workplace health planning.

Impact of findings: This project will provide evidence to help improve workplace safety, mental health support, and return-to-work planning for nurses. The new data platform will help organizations track injury trends, understand mental health needs, and design targeted programs that support recovery. These insights can strengthen occupational health policies and contribute to a healthier, more stable nursing workforce.

Funded By

WorkSafe Ontario Fund

Partners

Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES)

Work Safe Ontario (WSO)

Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)