BACKGROUND: Work is salient to life, is central to well-being, and is a means by which individuals define themselves. Disabilities such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS), however, can confound the interaction between person and work. OBJECTIVE: In the current study, in an effort to examine the effects of type of employment upon quality of life (QOL), employment was divided into three categories (full-time employment, part-time employment, and unemployment). METHOD: Comparisons were then made between QOL ratings and the three categories. Although studies of QOL and MS are appearing more frequently in the literature, few studies have addressed this issue. RESULTS: A priori comparisons and Analysis of Variance resulted in the finding that persons with MS who were employed tended to rate their levels of QOL nearly one third of a standard deviation higher than their unemployed counterparts. CONCLUSION: Results of the study emphasize the need for the provision of quality vocational services to persons with MS. Issues such as quality vocational services, timeliness, and the importance of continued work are discussed.
Persons with physical and sensory disabilities continue to face difficulty securing and maintaining employment. Despite all of the efforts of individuals providing assistance to job seekers, family members, friends and colleagues, the employment deficit of people with disabilities has remained nearly static for years. This study examined factors salient to the attainment of competitive employment among people with physical and sensory disabilities served by the state-federal rehabilitation system. Employing a series of logistic regression analyses measured against national rehabilitation data, the results support the need for provision of job placement services to improve potential for competitive employment. Predictors of competitive employment, job placement service provision implications, the need for vocational evaluation and appropriate planning are discussed. An evidence-based service model designed to address the predictors of competitive employment among persons with physical and sensory disabilities is presented.
Return to work is a key concept in vocational rehabilitation. Predicting readiness to return to work is salient to the process of vocational rehabilitation for individuals with Multiple Sclerosis. An individual's readiness to return to work has been shown to be an effective predictor of that person's actual return to work. A survey of a population of persons with MS (N = 663) was analyzed using correlation and multiple regression analyses. Severity of symptoms appeared to predict reported readiness to return to work over other factors. Issues including the relationship of self-efficacy to readiness to return to work are discussed. Further research is recommended.
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