Labour force participation and employment among a sample of Australian patients with a spinal cord injury

Abstract

This study examined the employment achievements of 219 spinal cord injured people and attempted to identify predictors which, individually and in combination, (a) discriminated between those who were in the labour force or not, and (b) correlated with the amount of time in employment post injury. Results indicated that at the time of the survey 26% were in fulltime work, 11% were in part-time work, 4% were unemployed and 59% were not actively seeking work. Multivariate analyses identi®ed three variables (impairment type, study since injury, level of pre-injury secondary schooling) which were related to both labour force participation and the amount of work undertaken post-injury. These results are discussed with reference to post-injury services that could be oered to spinal cord injured people who wish to return to work or gain employment.

Participation and satisfaction after spinal cord injury: results of a vocational and leisure outcome study

“…[9][10][11][12][13] Preceding their SCI, this study group was very active and spent on average more than 40 working hours a week preinjury. It concerned a relatively high number of self-employed workers and persons who extended their regular jobs with jobs on the side in evening hours.…”

“…[6][7][8] Working rates for people with SCI vary from 31 to 48% in recent studies. [9][10][11][12][13] Factors related to the success of vocational reintegration are age, education level, realistic expectations, preinjury type of job, type of lesion and disease-specific problems and disabilities. 2,4,9,[14][15][16] For those people unable to reintegrate in work, participation in nonvocational activities must also be considered as a successful rehabilitation outcome.…”

Vocational reintegration following spinal cord injury: expectations, participation and interventions

“…[8][9][10][11] In more recent American, Australian and European studies, the percentages of persons gainfully working at assessment improved and ranged from 31 to 48%. 3,[12][13][14][15] Success rates are determined by the social security system, economic circumstances and the willingness of employers to keep disabled people at work. 22 The booming economy of the last decade and the labour shortage due to ageing of the labour potential was in favour of those with chronic diseases and disabilities.…”

“…[1][2][3][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Workrelated and environmental factors were studied such as preinjury employment status, vocational retraining, transportation and architectural barriers. [1][2][3][4][9][10][11][12][13]15,17 A predictive model for vocational outcome was developed in one study, in order to increase the cost-effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation by focusing efforts on the individuals with the greatest vocational potential. 11 It is a noteworthy finding that the vocational outcome of patients who expected to be able to return to work was significantly better than of patients who did not, even if they expected to be able to find another job or Table 5 Results of job reintegration at the moment of assessment (n ¼ 45) related to the unmet needs regarding the process of reintegration and application for a (different) job (n(%)) study.…”

“…3,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Factors related to the success of vocational reintegration include several personal and injury-related variables, such as age, type of lesion and Barthel score, and work-related variables, such as educational level, preinjury type of work and social security system. [1][2][3][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Only few studies focused on the relation between vocational outcome and more subjective indicators such as work interests and values, educational and vocational plans and societal attitudes. 9,14 Nevertheless, the role of the individual patient seems very important in the process to successful job reintegration.…”