Building the Case for Delivering Health Promotion Services Within the Vocational Rehabilitation System

Abstract

Research studies report a negative relationship between employment and secondary conditions. Access to health promotion programs to manage secondary conditions, however, is limited for people with disabilities due to employment, financial, and insurance barriers. Vocational rehabilitation (VR) is one possible delivery point to overcome these barriers and improve access. To build the case for VR delivery, this article compares VR clients to Living Well health promotion program participants, who successfully reduced their secondary conditions. At baseline,VR ( n = 162) and Living Well ( n = 188) participants reported similar health promoting lifestyle behavior ratings and similar severity ratings across many secondary conditions. In addition, the VR group experienced similar rates of limitation from secondary conditions over time, indicating that their health was not improving in the absence of a health promotion intervention. Because health promotion programs can reduce secondary conditions, this research supports continued exploration of health promotion delivery within the VR system.