Ellen MacEachen

Ph.D. (University of Toronto); M.Sc. (Queen's University)
Contact Information
Email Address: 
emaceachen@iwh.on.ca
Office Phone Number: 
416-927-2027 x2136
Institute for Work & Health
481 University Avenue, Suite 800
Toronto
ON
M5G 2E9
Current DLSPH Academic & Administrative Appointments
Current Position: 
Associate Professor
Division/Discipline: 
Social and Behavioural Health Sciences
SGS Status: 
Full Member
Administrative Positions: 
Education & Training History

After obtaining a Ph.D. from the School of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto (2003), I took up a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH). Following this two-year fellowship, I joined the IWH Scientific staff. The multidisciplinary academic research unit of the IWH has since been my primary base, with the DLSPH as my home university department. My doctoral training and subsequent research has focused on the use of qualitative methods and critical social theory to investigate work and health systems and outcomes.  Stakeholder interaction and knowledge translation are important elements of this research. My earlier training, via an M.Sc. in Rehabilitation Sciences at Queen’s University (1993), was oriented to social science and disability studies and focused on state systems for integrating people with disabilities into mainstream life. These two streams are now coming together in a current SSHRC Partner’s grant. If funded, my co-PI (Emile Tompa) and I will have a 7-year national research collaboration focused on Work Disability Policy that brings together investigators, policy-makers and community members to consider labour force integration of disabled individual as a common problem, for both the fields of occupational health and  disability studies.

Other Affiliations

Scientist, Institute for Work & Health

Past-President, Canadian Association for Research on Work and Health

Associate Editor, Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation

Academic Fellow, Centre for Critical Qualitative Health Research, University of Toronto

Academic Council, Pacific Coast University

Research Interests
  • social and organizational determinants of occupational health
  • qualitative methodology
  • occupational health systems and policy
  • disability management and labour force participation
  • injured and vulnerable workers
Primary Teaching Responsibilities
  • CHL 5122 H Advanced Qualitative Research: Framing, Writing & Beyond
  •  
Honours and Awards
  • Robin Bagley Award for Excellence in Teaching (Early Career).  Faculty Award, Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, 2007.
Current Research Projects

2012  Tompa E and MacEachen E (Co-Principal Investigators), Banting K, Baril-Gingras G, Bornstein S, Boucher N, Calvert J, Cooke G, Côté P, Dawe D, de Boer C, Dewa C, Facey M, Gewurtz R,  Gold D, Grignon M, Heymann J,  Holness L, Koehoorn M, Laberge M,  Latimer E, Loisel P, McLeod C,  Montreuil S, Neis B, Noël A, Ostry A, Premji S, Provencher Y, Rioux M,  Saunders R, Shaw L, Small S,  Zeytinoglu I (Co-Investigators). Income Security and Labour-Market Engagement: Envisioning the Future of Disability Policy in Canada. SSHRC Partners Grant. $20,000 received for LOI development, grant request of $2,492,000 over 7 years.

2012-2014. Laberge, M. (PI), MacEachen, E., Vezina, N., Barette-Brisson, P. Évaluation de l'utilisation d'outils d'apprentissage visant le développement de compétences liées à la SST. Éducation, Loisir et Sport Québec (Projet de recherche-action visant l’expérimentation d’interventions novatrices), $75,000.

2012-2013   Dunstan, D. (P.I.), MacEachen, E. Manager’s perspectives on the role of co-workers in workplace reintegration processes. School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England Staff Seeding Grant Scheme. $8,398.44.

2009-2012  MacEachen, E. (P.I.), Kosny, A., Lippel, K., Saunders, R. Understanding the management of prevention and return to work in temporary work agencies. Workplace Safety & Insurance Board Research Advisory Council (WSIB RAC).  $208,941

Representative Publications
  • Dunstan, D., MacEachen, E. Bearing the brunt: Co-workers’ experiences of work reintegration processes. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. E-pub ahead of print. DOI 10.1007/s10926-012-9380-2.
  • Mansfield, L., MacEachen, E., Tompa, E., Kalcevich, C.A (2012) critical review of literature on experience-rating in workers’ compensation systems. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety 10 (1), 3- 25.
  • MacEachen, E., Lippel, K., Saunders, R., Kosny, A., Mansfield, L., Carrasco, C., Pugliese, D. (2012). Workers’ compensation experience rating rules and the danger to worker safety in the temporary work agency sector. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety 10 (1), 77-95.
  • Lippel, K., MacEachen, E., Werhun, N., Saunders, R., Kosny, A., Mansfield, L., Carrasco, C., Pugliese, D. Legal protections governing occupational health and safety and workers’ compensation of temporary employment agency workers in Canada: reflections on regulatory effectiveness. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 9(2), 69-90.
  • MacEachen, E. , Kosny, A., Ferrier, S., Lippel, K., Neilson, C., Franche, R.L., Pugliese, D. (2012) The ‘ability’ paradigm in vocational rehabilitation: challenges in an Ontario Injured worker retraining program, Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 22(1), 105-117.
  • Tjulin, Å., MacEachen, E. (Co-PA), Edvardsson Stiwne, E., Ekberg, K. (2011) The social interaction of return to work explored from co-workers experiences. Disability and Rehabilitation, 33 (21-22), 1979-1989.
  • Kosny, A., MacEachen, E. , Ferrier, S., Chambers, L. (2011) The role of health care providers in long term and complicated workers’ compensation claims. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 21, 582-590.
  • Bernhard, D. , MacEachen, E., Lippel, K. (2010). Disability management experts and the impact on practice of jurisdiction. International Journal of Social Security and Workers Compensation, 2(1), 1-16.
  • MacEachen, E. , Kosny, A., Ferrier, S., Chambers, L. (2010). The ‘toxic dose’ of system problems: why some injured workers don’t return to work as expected, Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 20(3), 349-366.
  • MacEachen, E. , Kosny, A., Scott-Dixon, K., Facey, M., Chambers, L., Breslin, C., Kyle, N. , Irvin, E., Mahood, Q. and the Small Business Systematic Review Team (2010). Workplace health understandings and processes in small businesses: A systematic review of the qualitative literature. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 20(2):180-98.
  • MacEachen, E., Polzer, J., Clarke, J. (2008) You are free to set your own hours”: Governing worker productivity and health through flexibility and resilience. Social Science & Medicine, 66(5), 1019-1033.
  • MacEachen E, Ferrier S, Kosny A, and Chambers L. (2007). A deliberation on ‘hurt versus harm’ logic in early-return-to-work policy. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 5(2), 41-62.
  • MacEachen, E., Kosny, A., Ferrier, S. (2007) Unexpected barriers in return to work: lessons learned from Ontario injured worker peer support groups. Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation, 29(2), 155-164.
  • MacEachen, E, Clarke, J., Franche, R.-L., Irvin, E. (2006). The process of return to work after injury: findings of a systematic review of qualitative studies. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 32(4), 257-269.
  • MacEachen. E. (2005) The demise of repetitive strain injury in sceptical governing rationalities of workplace managers. Sociology of Health and Illness, 27(4), 490-514.