| Background: |
Employment rates after spinal cord injury (SCI) continue to fall behind employment rates of the general population. In past research age, sex, marital status, race, injury severity, time since injury, vocational counseling, employers’ attitudes, employment type, education, social support, medical problems, psychological state, and environment have all been predictors of return to employment after SCI. Predictors of not returning to employment have been injury severity, disincentives, need for greater assistance, and being physically unable to perform the same type of work. There is limited research in examining these facilitators and barriers as they relate to labor force participation. |
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Purpose:
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This study aims to identify barriers and facilitators to employment and to examine the relationship of those barriers and facilitators with labor force participation |
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Setting:
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Participants were identified at specialty hospitals in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. This longitudinal study began in 1973 with new participant cohorts being added every 10 years. |
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Study sample: |
The final study sample consisted of seven hundred eighty one (N=781) participants. All participants had a traumatic SCI, were at least one year post injury, and were between 18-65 years old. Most of the study sample was male (77.1%) and white (77.1%). Average age was 47.3 years. |
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Control or comparison condition:
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Thirty item self-report measure of barriers and facilitators to employment. |
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Data collection and analysis:
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A thirty item self-report measure of barriers and facilitators to employment was administered to all participants. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify major predictors of labor force participation. Other analyses on the data included an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). |
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Findings:
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Main factors were identified as resources, health status, disability considerations, lack of importance, disincentives, and motivation. |
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Conclusions:
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Facilitators to labor force participation were more significant than were barriers. Education has long been thought of as the biggest facilitator to employment for SCI patients. This research has limited generalizability to national and global populations as it was only conducted in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. |
