Research Plus

Recovery expectations: systematic review

Patients with lower expectations of recovery are less likely to return to work (RTW) than those with high expectations, this systematic review of 46 studies finds (just two were randomised controlled trials). Most papers looked at back pain or other musculoskeletal disorders, and all but two found an association between expectations and recovery. There was no validated ‘gold standard’ method of assessing expectations of recovery, with the various measures not rigorously tested. 

1. Measures of patients’ expectations about recovery: a systematic review. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation 2014; online first: doi: 10.1007/s10926-014-9535-4

Tags evidence based practice Return to work

Occupational Health at Work December/January 2014/2015 (vol. 11/4) pp39