Employer-Based Facilitators of Return to Work Following Disabling Injury

Abstract

AbstractPostinjury vocational achievement is an important index of successful vocational rehabilitation. This study involved the identification of factors reported to facilitate labour-force participation of people with spinal cord injury (SCI) who, even though lacking the personal characteristics found to correlate with labour-force participation, were actually members of the labour force. The empirically identified subjects comprised the 20 most extreme prediction errors from the application of discriminant function analysis, which was conducted with the aim of predicting vocational achievement (in the labour force vs. not in the labour force) following SCI. Subjects were interviewed to gain an understanding of their explanations for their erroneously predicted labour-force status. Principal factors nominated as most influencing the postinjury labour-force achievements were the assistance of family, friends and representatives of preinjury employers. Implications of these findings for the delivery of rehabilitation services are presented, including the need for more community-based and employer-related services.