JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Integrated prevention at work promises to eliminate the boundaries between primary, secondary and tertiary prevention actions taken by stakeholders in the world of work. It is receiving more and more attention from the scientific community because of its concerted and harmonized approach, which promotes employment access, return and healthy long-term continuation. Although promising, integrated prevention is not yet well-defined, which makes it difficult to operationalize.

Objective:

This manuscript exposes the protocol of a study aiming to conceptualize integrated prevention at work on the basis of scientific and experiential knowledge.

Methods:

Using a concept analysis research design, data collection has been planned in two parts. A metanarrative literature review will first be conducted to document how integrated prevention has been defined in literature. Then, phone interviews will be conducted with key informers (i.e., managers, workers, ergonomists, occupational therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists, union and insurance representatives) to document their viewpoints and understanding of integrated prevention at work. Qualitative data gathered during these two parts of research will be analyzed using template analysis, which allows data from literature and empirical collection to be analyzed simultaneously. The analysis will bring out the points of convergence, divergence and complementarity between the information gleaned from literature and key informers’ experiences to arrive at a conceptualization of integrated prevention at work by identifying its uses, attributes, antecedents and consequences. As a final step, validation, synthesis and interpretation with a TRIAGE group will be carried out in collaboration with the key informers to identify the tools for the implementation of integrated prevention at work and promote workers’ health and safety.

Results:

This study is expected to offer a contemporary conceptualization of integrated prevention at work that clearly lays out the variables of this concept and elicits the viewpoints of the different stakeholders.

Conclusions:

This study will contribute to the advancement of knowledge about the professional injury prevention continuum. The clear identification of the uses, attributes, antecedents and consequences of integrated prevention at work will offer concrete tools to stakeholders to implement innovative and promising approaches to integrated prevention at work.