This study used data (N = 3,076) from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to explore the relationship between employment and health behaviors for individuals with physical disabilities. Results from a binary logistic regression model, with employment as the dependent variable, show that exercise increased the probability of employment by 8.4% after controlling for participant demo-graphics, severity of disability, and secondary health conditions. These results speak to the importance of health promotion for people with disabilities who desire employment.

These results suggest there may be a complicated relationship among these secondary conditions and community participation with effects observed both across and within days. One interpretation suggests that secondary condition severity is tempered by adjusting participation. These results may have implications for intervening on these secondary conditions.

No abstract

Background It is important for people with disabilities to be vaccinated against COVID-19 because, as a group, they are at increased risk of severe outcomes. While there are multiple vaccines available to prevent COVID-19, a considerable proportion of Americans report some hesitancy to becoming vaccinated, including people with disabilities. Objective We conducted a study to explore what factors may contribute to COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy among Americans with disabilities. Methods We used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to survey 439 people with disabilities (ages 18+) about their concerns of the COVID-19 disease, vaccines, and hesitancy toward vaccination to learn more about factors that influence vaccination hesitancy. Concerns about vaccines were analyzed as a composite variable representing different dimensions such as: side effects, too new, developed too quickly, influenced by politics, and effectiveness. Results Results from a logistic regression indicate that concern about vaccines was the most significant predictor of hesitancy, even after considering demographic, economic, and geographic factors. Concerns about getting COVID-19, getting tested for COVID-19, trust in experts, education, and being a Democrat were negatively associated with hesitancy. Conclusions These findings indicate that some groups of individuals may be more vaccination hesitant because they are more concerned about vaccine safety than COVID-19 infection. Public health messaging that focuses on the risks of vaccines relative to the risks of COVID-19 might be one strategy to reduce hesitancy and increase vaccination uptake. Messaging should also be tailored to specific disabilities (i.e. physical, mental, sensory), written in plain language, and disseminated in accessible formats.

Background: Social isolation has been compared to smoking in terms of risk to public health. Some groups are at particularly high risk for these feelings, including people with disabilities and rural residents. Few studies have considered the potentially compounding effects of disability status and rural residency. Objective: To evaluate how reported satisfaction with social participation and perceived isolation relate to the health of rural and urban people with disabilities, and to consider whether number of disabilities, living arrangement, and employment status were associated with differences in reported satisfaction with social participation and perceived isolation. Methods: This observational, cross-sectional analysis utilized data from working-age adults with disabilities (n = 1246) collected by the Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living (CHRIL). Results: There were significant associations between reported health and measures of satisfaction with social participation and perceived isolation (all ps < .001). Increased number of disability issues, not being employed, and living with at least one other person were associated with reduced satisfaction with social participation (ps < .01), and number of disability issues and not being employed were associated with increased perceived isolation (ps < .01). Urban residents reported feeling more isolated (ps < .05) and there were multiple predictor x geographic residency (rural versus urban) interactions. Conclusion: These results underscore the importance of considering geography as a factor in understanding satisfaction with social participation and perceived isolation and how these factors relate to health in people with disabilities.