Challenges in the present, storied for the future: Men’s narratives of planning to return to work after a burn injury
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Date
2018-12-01
Authors
Thakrar, Sulaye
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Abstract
For burn survivors, return to work (RTW) is often viewed as the end of their healing journey. RTW represents returning to pre-burn life, resuming valued roles, and regaining workplace identities. Given that 70% of burn survivors are men, it is essential to consider the way men understand events in their RTW journey by drawing on their constructed masculinities. The aim of this thesis was to explore men’s prospective RTW narratives in the context of their present healing from burns. Using an interview format, 15 employed men aged 19 to 55 who were due to RTW in the imminent future were interviewed twice. A narrative analytic methodology was used to analyze the interview transcripts. There were three interwoven storylines that the men told, each with a main narrative threaded with a counternarrative. In the first storylines, even though the men narrated pain and difficulties with physical functioning, scarring and mental health were not seen as a problem. The men also did not predict that any of these challenges would impact their work performance. In the second storyline, even though the men remarked on their struggle to heal from legitimate burn injuries, they feared that their highly-esteemed pre-injury work reputation was tarnished and they were being labeled as “lazy”. The men wanted to RTW quickly, but also fully healed, to regain this reputation. In the final set of stories, the men relayed that the sole responsibility for making RTW plans fell upon their health care providers and WCB counsellors, but at the same time the men believed that they had unique work expertise which was needed for these decisions to be made. The men’s narratives are discussed in the context of literature on masculinities, medical decision making, and burns. Men’s narratives featured tensions related to taking time off work while injured which were influenced by their masculinities and societal stigma. Understanding these struggles may help RTW stakeholders promote best rehabilitation practices for burn survivors and smooth work reintegration.
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Keywords
Narrative, Return to work, WCB, Medical decision making, Qualitative, Mental Health, Pain, Body Image, Burn Injury, Prospective Teleology, Future, Reputation, Healing, Masculinities, Societal Stigma, Rehabilitation