Article

Cross-sectional survey. OBJECTIVES: To investigate factors related
to length of time between spinal cord injury (SCI) onset and start of first
post-injury employment. SETTING: Persons living with SCI in the community who are
members of a disability support organization. METHODS: Participants were randomly
selected from the membership list of a non-governmental voluntary organization.
They met the following four criteria: traumatic SCI, minimum of 15 years of age
at the time of survey, a minimum of 2 years after SCI and had been employed for
some time since SCI. The main outcome measure was time (in years) from injury
onset to beginning first post-injury job. RESULTS: Participants averaged 4.9
years (s.d. 5.1) from the time of SCI to their first post-injury job, with a
range of 3 months to 20 years. Fifty percent of the participants who eventually
returned to work had done so by 4 years. Return to pre-injury employer and
employment were associated with early return, whereas having less years in
education and being older at the time of injury were associated with longer time
to return to work. CONCLUSION: Rehabilitation team need to consider return to
employment as a realistic goal even many years after SCI. Perhaps a focus on
returning more people to their pre-injury employer and employment with added
focus and input from rehabilitation team for those with lower education status
and older age at time of injury might expedite the process of reintegration.

Langue : ANGLAIS