Social and psychological determinants of recovery from industrial injuries

Social and psychological determinants of the time taken to return to work were investigated in a sample of male manual workers referred to an accident clinic with mostly minor industrial injuries. Patients who showed a rapid recovery relative to the severity of their injuries were more often married, had greater job satisfaction, were less likely to be receiving an income supplement from their employers, and blamed themselves more for their accidents. The findings also indicated that a poor recovery rate could be expected when the accident was due to some environmental fault or failure, and the implications for studies of compensation are discussed.