People who have a stressful experience gaining compensation after being hospitalised for an injury have a poorer long-term recovery.
Researchers followed people who sought compensation through transport accident or workers’ compensation schemes. Those who reported the claims process was stressful had higher levels of disability, anxiety and depression, lower quality of life and were slower to recover compared to those who did not report the claims process as stressful.
Some of the major sources of stress were understanding what needed to be done for a claim, claim processing times and the number of medical assessments required.
The authors suggest reducing these stressors could help to improve the recovery of those who seek compensation after injury.
Read more at Monash University