Biomedical subjects

Amanda E Young

Publications and source records attributed to Amanda E Young.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Employment participation following spinal cord injury: relation to selected participant demographic, injury and psychological characteristics.

PURPOSE: To determine the relationship between selected demographic, injury and psychological characteristics and the extent of employment undertaken following spinal cord injury (SCI). METHOD: Data were collected from 289 persons with SCI who found employment post-injury. A survey was administered to patients of a specialist spinal cord injury unit located in South-Eastern Australia. A variety of demographic, injury and psychological variables were assessed for their relationship to the extent of employment undertaken following SCI. Extent of employment, was defined as time spent employed as a proportion of the time available for employment, and is hereafter referred to as "workrate." RESULTS: On average, participants reported having been employed for almost two-thirds of their available time. Study variables explained 22% (18% adjusted) of the variance in post-injury workrate. Individually, demographic and psychological variables, but not injury variables, were found to relate to the outcome measure. CONCLUSION: Using a novel measure of employment outcome, this study yielded findings consistent with other research using alternate employment measures. Results suggest that demographic and psychological variables are more related to this measure of employment participation than are injury variables. The addition of environmental variables may allow for the explanation of more variance in outcome.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Return-to-work outcomes following work disability: stakeholder motivations, interests and concerns.

INTRODUCTION: Satisfaction with return-to-work (RTW) outcomes is dependent on many factors, including a clear exposition of what people define as a "good outcome" and the information they use to determine if such an outcome has been achieved. This paper defines the key stakeholders involved in the RTW process and discusses the need to understand their motivations, interests, and concerns. METHODS: A review of the literature and discussions with RTW researchers conducted by a multidisciplinary group of academic researchers. RESULTS: Our analysis suggests that RTW stakeholders can share the goal of a successful RTW; however, this consensus has to be viewed in light of other, sometimes competing, goals and the environments in which stakeholders operate. CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that more clearly articulating and operationalizing stakeholders' perspectives will allow researchers to advance the understanding of RTW interventions and outcomes.

Community Participation↗

PubMed2005

A developmental conceptualization of return to work.

INTRODUCTION: Although return to work (RTW) is a phenomenon that has been researched for many years, our ability to understand and improve outcomes is still limited. As an avenue for advancing the field, this paper presents an alternative way of thinking about RTW. METHOD: The conceptualization was constructed based on a review of the literature and the comments of RTW and workers' compensation researchers. RESULTS: RTW is presented as an evolving process, comprising four key phases: i.e., "off work," "work re-entry," "retention," and "advancement." In addition, multiple phase-specific outcomes that may be used to evaluate RTW success are advanced. CONCLUSION: Broadening thinking about RTW to take into consideration the complexities of its developmental nature holds promise for understanding and improving RTW, as it not only clarifies the importance of incremental milestones, but also facilitates intervention choice and evaluation.

Community Participation↗

PubMed2004

Agricultural workers' return to work following spinal cord injury: a comparison with other industry workers.

PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of spinal cord injury on employment outcomes as experienced by agricultural workers in comparison with persons employed in other industries. Because of the challenges associated with working in many of the agricultural industries, it was anticipated that agricultural workers would achieve inferior return-to-work outcomes. METHOD: Survey of all employed persons who experienced a traumatic spinal cord injury in southeastern Australia between 1990 and 1996 (inclusive). RESULTS: Contrary to expectation, agricultural workers had a significantly higher rate of return to work (61.7% vs. 41.1%). However, an investigation into the hours spent working and agricultural workers' satisfaction with their employment activities, indicated that most were underemployed and had the potential to achieve even better outcomes. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that more can be done to help injured agricultural workers achieve their employment potential.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Explaining labor force status following spinal cord injury: the contribution of psychological variables.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relative influence of demographic, injury and psychological characteristics on the labor force status of people living with spinal cord injury. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SUBJECTS: 459 persons who had experienced a traumatic spinal cord injury. All participants were patients of 1 of 2 specialist spinal cord injury services located in south-eastern Australia. METHODS: A survey, administered on average of 11.2 years after their injury, was used to collect the data. The study's main outcome measure was labor force status at the time of survey. Of those invited to participate in the study, 73% agreed to do so. RESULTS: Demographic, injury and psychological variables were found to explain 30% of the variance in the employment criterion: "in the labor force" vs "not in the labor force". Psychological variables contributed significantly to the separation of the 2 labor force groups. CONCLUSION: The inclusion of the selected psychological variables has advanced the understanding of the factors related to return to work following spinal cord injury, however this understanding is still not complete. Future efforts in this field would likely benefit from the inclusion of additional psychological characteristics, as well as environmental factors.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

A social psychology approach to measuring vocational rehabilitation intervention effectiveness.

It is rare for rehabilitation researchers to report substantial relationships between functional capacity and vocational rehabilitation achievements. The reason for this is that there are many other factors that also impact on the return-to-work outcomes people achieve. A solution to the problem of having to take into consideration the effects of multiple factors when evaluating intervention effectiveness is to focus more directly on cognitions and behaviors that have been theoretically and empirically linked with a satisfactory return to work. The aim of this paper is to explore and describe a measure of rehabilitation effectiveness based in cognitive-behavioral theory. Rather than the measurement of employment per se, the described measure is focused on the efforts individuals make in relation to achieving their desired outcome. To test the effectiveness, acceptability, and utility of the approach, the measure was trialed with 170 people with a spinal cord injury. This preliminary work has revealed that participants found the measure acceptable and gave detailed responses in regards to: their satisfaction with their vocational status; what it is they would prefer to be doing; and what it is that they are doing to achieve their aims. Study findings suggest that while the approach is likely to require further development, focusing on process variables holds promise as an evaluation approach when assessing the success of vocational rehabilitation intervention effectiveness.

Adult↗