Making it WorkTM Program
Arthritis is the most common health reason why Canadians have to stop working. This can have tremendous consequences to people with arthritis and their families, financially and in terms of personal well-being. People with arthritis must deal with daily pain, stiffness and fatigue which can make working difficult. Despite the importance of this problem, there are few services available to people with arthritis to help them deal with employment issues. The program was developed by a team at Arthritis Research Canada to address this need.
What is Making it WorkTM ?
It is an on-line self-management program to support people with inflammatory types of arthritis to remain employed and lead healthy and productive lives at work.
Who is Making it WorkTM for?
People with inflammatory types of arthritis (for example, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, connective tissue diseases, and other spondyloarthropathies) who are concerned about their work and would like to learn strategies to help them remain employed.
Program Description
The program can take 6 weeks to complete. You can do this in the comfort of your own home The components include:
- Individual interactive on-line modules. The program offers 5 interactive modules for you to complete online on your own time (approximately one to two hours each), covering topics such as work and arthritis; management of inflammatory arthritis; disclosing diagnosis of arthritis at work; dealing with fatigue and stress at work; effective communication strategies; legal issues around employment, disability, and job accommodations; optimizing interpersonal relationships at work; ergonomics for your work environment and obtaining job accommodations.
- (OPTIONAL) On-line video group meetings. There are 5 on-line video group meetings facilitated by a trained facilitator lasting 1.5 - 2 hours each. They are held every other week, after you have completed the corresponding eLearning module. You will meet other people like yourself and have the opportunity to discuss arthritis and work-related issues, share experiences, and practice skills you learn in the program.
- (OPTIONAL) Two on-line consultations with health professionals. An occupational therapist (OT) will conduct an on-line ergonomic assessment of your work environment and your work tasks. Following this, you will have an on-line consultation with a Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor (VRC) who will provide you with employment counselling, work retention strategies, and other resources.
Technical Requirements
To access the program, you will need:
- Either a computer—Mac or PC, a Tablet or an iPad. A cell phone does not provide a large enough screen for optimum viewing.
- Access to Hi-speed internet
Program Goals and Objectives
The overall goal of the program is to:
- Improve your ability to perform your work
- Help you remain employed as long as you wish to do so.
We think the program will achieve this by:
- improving your confidence in your ability to work with arthritis;
- improving your confidence and your ability to manage problems at work because of your arthritis;
- helping you identify and change the things that make it hard for you to work or put you at risk of having to stop work because of your arthritis;
- improving your confidence and your ability to request and obtain job accommodations.
Program Content
The content and activities of this program have been designed to provide you with knowledge, skills and practice so you are better prepared to handle the challenges of living and working with arthritis. Activities will increase your self-awareness so you understand better how your arthritis affects your ability to work. The program also provides you with tools and strategies to help you take action and make the changes you feel are necessary.
Throughout this program you will learn:
- A problem solving and goal setting technique to solve problems and to make changes;
- The ways fatigue may affect you and ways to manage it at work;
- The way stress may affect you and ways to reduce it at work;
- Different communication strategies that help you talk with your employer and co-workers to build support and get your needs met at work;
- Your legal rights and your employer’s legal obligations about disclosure, job accommodations, and Human Rights;
- Ways to improve your ability to ask your employer/supervisor for changes in your job to better adapt it to your arthritis;
- The basic principles of ergonomics—how equipment and furniture can be arranged for comfort and efficiency—and apply them to your work situation.
How was Making it WorkTM created?
To make sure the program would meet the needs of people with arthritis, we started by asking people with arthritis about the problems they experienced at work because of their arthritis. We also asked them what they felt would be helpful. This program specifically tackles problems and solutions that people like you identified.
This program is evidence-based. The content was developed to address what is known to increase the risk of becoming work disabled—unable to work because of arthritis. This information comes from studies of arthritis and employment. As well as facts from research, we have drawn on the experience of programs already shown to be effective.
Finally, we have drawn on the expertise of a team of health care and employment professionals and people with arthritis.
