Attributions for Industrial Accidents: Their Relationship to Rehabilitation Outcome

Male victims of industrial accidents were interviewed immediately after injury and again after their return to work to establish whether rehabilitation outcome was influenced by their causal attributions for their accidents. As expected, victims who felt causally responsible for their accidents rated their mood as better once back at work, although they were not in significantly better psychological health. Contrary to prediction, victims who felt more culpable returned to work more quickly. There was no relationship between blaming workmates or employers and rehabilitation outcome. Although the causal direction of these effects was not clear, there was some evidence that uncontrollable accidents were followed by poorer outcome.