| Background: |
There have been very few recent studies into the concerns of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) regarding their employment. |
|
Purpose:
|
The survey was given to people with MS to gauge how they felt about their employment prospects and outcomes. |
|
Setting:
|
The sample contained 1,924 people of different races and genders from across the united states, both urban and suburban environments |
|
Study sample: |
The sample consisted of 410 men and 1,514 women. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they lived in a suburban community, 24.9 percent said they lived in urban areas, and 22.1 percent said they resided in a rural area. |
|
Data collection and analysis:
|
The survey was a 98-item questionnaire including sections about demographics, the taker's illness, and employment concerns. The replies were then applied to various descriptive statistical analyses to answer the main research questions |
|
Findings:
|
The highest strengths reported by the survey fall into categories such as personal control, expectations of peers, employee benefits, communication with employers, workplace policy, and access to disability services. The items reported as moderate strength include social security, training and advancement opportunities, insurance coverage, hiring and promotion, access to technology, layoffs and termination, and civil rights. The factors reported as weaknesses are the Affordable Care Act, on-the-job accommodations, reassignment as a strategy to retain their jobs, and disclosure of disabilities. |
|
Conclusions:
|
People with MS seem to be mostly satisfied with possible concerns about their employment despite only 39.6% of the sample being employed at the time, which implies that these people still require improvements to rehabilitation services in order to better gain and maintain their careers. |
