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Welcome from Project Office!
 I
am Pat Butterfield and serve as Principal Investigator on the "Reducing Occupational
Disability" project. I am an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at
Montana State University.
Low back injuries are among the most common occupational health conditions--accounting
for 25-40% of workers' compensation claims. The economic costs associated with
occupational low back pain have been estimated as high as $100 billion per year
nationwide, and primarily involve income replacement, medical expenses, and legal costs.
In addition to economic costs, other personal and societal losses occur when workers
become disabled due to chronic pain. Families can enter a time of personal crisis when an
adult is not working; risks for clinical depression and substance abuse increase when a
person becomes unemployed.
Over the next four years, we will conduct a feasibility study to examine clinical
approaches to low back disability prevention in smaller communities. Workers in Missoula,
Montana, Billings, Montana and La Grande, Oregon will participate in the study. We will
focus our efforts exclusively on workers employed in small companies (l00 workers or less)
because the majority of research in this area has been conducted in large companies based
in metropolitan areas.
Our goal is to develop and test models of care that can be realistically adopted in small
companies (as few as ten workers) without on-site nurses, physicians, or safety engineers.
To do this, we employ a community-based approach to care that involves a worker's primary
health care provider, home-based care, and coordination with workers' compensation
personnel. Our interventions borrow heavily from more formalized return to work programs
and national standards for low back treatment. It is our hope that these actions will
result in improved outcomes for injured workers. Our research team will be examining
feasibility issues for the study as well as measures of workers' pain and functioning over
time. This data will help inform us about components of care that are effective (as well
as those which are ineffective) in promoting optimal recovery for injured workers.
One more thing-as you visit workers' homes, we ask you to remain open and non-judgmental
in all interactions with workers, families, employers, and other health care providers.
Our research is predicated on objective conduct by all professionals involved with
workers. We thank you for your commitment to the scientific integrity of the study.
Best regards,
Patricia Butterfield, PhD, RN
Principal Investigator
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