Toronto — A new online tool from Canada’s Institute for Work and Health is intended to help people consider whether to disclose personal health information at work.
The free Decision-Support for Communicating about Invisible Disabilities that are Episodic (DCIDE) provides personalized guidance for people grappling with disclosure questions. It asks users about key issues that are important to making a decision about sharing – or not sharing – health information with supervisors, human resources, union representatives and co-workers, which can be stressful for anyone with permanent, long-term conditions.
DCIDE asks users to respond to questions in five different areas:
Your needs: Why are you thinking about disclosing your health condition, and what’s happening now to make you consider it?
Your goals: What goals are important when working with a health condition, and will disclosing information help you meet those goals?
Your communication preferences: How comfortable are you with disclosing your condition, and what benefits and downsides might result from doing so?
Your work supports: Do you have workplace benefits, sick days or other policies that can offer support?
Your work culture: How supportive are your co-workers? Are there positives and negatives of sharing with others on the job?
“Health conditions do not necessarily lead to a disability,” the not-for-profit research organization says. “A disability comes about when the social and physical environment creates barriers for persons with health conditions. In the workplace, that means support and changes (or modifications) to some job tasks can remove the barriers that create a disability.”
