Work-ability assessment in young adults with disabilities applying for disability benefits (original) (raw)
Related papers
Unique issues in assessing work function among individuals with psychiatric disabilities
Journal of occupational rehabilitation, 2001
With the admission of people who experience psychiatric disabilities in the state-federal vocational rehabilitation system and the Social Security disability rolls in the 1960s, assessment of their capacity to work has been a major concern. Given the rising rates of claims for psychiatric disability in both the public and the private sectors, and the disappointing employment outcomes of people with psychiatric disabilities compared to those with other disabilities, there have been numerous initiatives to accurately assess their employment potential. Historically, such assessment within the Social Security Administration has relied upon evaluation of a person's medical impairment, but numerous studies suggest a weak relationship between measures of psychiatric diagnosis or symptoms and work outcome. Efforts have been undertaken to identify valid and reliable methods of assessing the ability of people with psychiatric disabilities to work. The authors review (a) methods of assessi...
Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 2016
Objective: Comprehensive understanding of the prevalence and quality of work disabilities and unmet needs for health care and rehabilitation to support return to work (RTW) among jobseekers. Design: Community-level, cross-sectional analysis with multidimensional clinical work ability assessments. Setting: Paltamo, Finland. Participants: Unemployed citizens either participating in the Full-Employment Project or longterm unemployed (n ¼ 230, 81%). Main outcome measures: Based on data from theme interviews, patient records, supervisors' observations of work performance and clinical examinations, a physician concluded the individual's work ability, categorised into four groups: good work ability, good work ability expected after RTW support, able to transitional work only or unable to work. These groups were cross tabulated with primary diagnoses, types of plans to support RTW, as well as categories of social functioning and motivation, for which sensitivity and specificity scores in detecting work disability were calculated. Results: Only about half of the jobseekers had good work ability, 27% were found unable to work in the open labour market and 15% even eligible for a disability pension. For 20%, care or rehabilitation was seen necessary to enable RTW. Poor supervisor-and self-rated performance at work or poor social functioning appeared as sensitive measures in detecting work disability. Conclusions: Work disabilities and unmet needs for health care and rehabilitation are highly prevalent among jobseekers, as depicted using a multidimensional work ability assessment procedure inspired by the International Classification of Functioning (ICF). Further development of work ability assessment practices is clearly needed. KEY POINTS Although the association of unemployment with poor health is well known, evidence on the work ability of the unemployed remains scarce. Work disabilities are common among the unemployed. Multidimensional work ability assessment among the unemployed reveals unmet needs for care and rehabilitation to support return to work. Context sensitivity may add to the accuracy of the doctor's conclusions on work ability.
Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation
Aims Residual work capacity and inability to work fulltime are important outcomes in disability benefit assessment for workers with mental and behavioural disorders. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the prevalence and associations of socio-demographic and disease-related factors of these outcomes across different mental and behavioural diagnoses groups. Methods A year cohort of anonymized register-data of patients diagnosed with a mental or behavioural disorder who claim a work disability benefit after two years of sick-leave was used (n = 12,325, age 44.5 ± 10.9, 55.5% female). Limitations in mental and physical functioning caused by disease are indicated according to the Functional Ability List (FAL). No residual work capacity was defined as having no possibilities to work, whereas inability to work fulltime was defined as being able to work less than 8 h per day. Results The majority (77.5%) of the applicants were assessed with residual work capacity, of these 58.6% ...
BMC Public Health, 2012
Background: Individuals who are sick and unable to work may receive wage replacement benefits from an insurer. For these provisions, a disability evaluation is required. This disability evaluation is criticised for lack of standardisation and transparency. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was developed to express the situation of people with disability. We discuss potential benefits of the ICF to structure and phrase disability evaluation in the field of social insurance. We describe core features of disability evaluation of the ICF across countries. We address how and to what extent the ICF may be applied in disability evaluation. Discussion: The medical reports in disability evaluation contain the following core features: health condition, functional capacity, socio-medical history, feasibility of interventions and prognosis of work disability. Reports also address consistency, causal relations according to legal requirements, and ability to work. The ICF consists of a conceptual framework of functioning, disability and health, definitions referring to functioning, disability and health, and a hierarchical classification of these definitions. The ICF component 'activities and participation' is suited to capture functional capacity. Interventions can be described as environmental factors but these would need an additional qualifier to indicate feasibility. The components 'participation' and 'environmental factors' are suited to capture work requirements. The socio-medical history, the prognosis, and legal requirements are problematic to capture with both the ICF framework and classification.
Young adults at risk of early work disability: who are they?
BMC Public Health
Background: Young adults that are not in education, training or employment represent a problem across European countries. While some are cases of temporary transitions or short-term inactivity, others represent a more vulnerable group at risk of early work disability. Early exclusion from the labor market represents long lives exposed to detrimental effects of unemployment on health and well-being, and constitutes an economic burden for society. There is need for more knowledge about young adults who are at risk of early work disability but have not yet reached the point of more permanent exclusion. This study aims to investigate social and health-related problems in a Norwegian sample of young adults at risk of early work disability, and their self-perceived causes of illness. Methods: Baseline data from participants in the SEED-trial (N = 96), a randomized controlled trial comparing individual placement and support to traditional vocational rehabilitation in young adults at risk of early work disability, were analyzed. Background, health behaviors, adverse social experiences, disability level, physical and mental health, social support, coping, and self-perceived causal attributions of illness were measured. Gender differences were analyzed using chi-square and t-tests. Results: Mean age was 24, and 68% were men. One third reported reading and writing difficulties, and 40% had less than high-school education. The majority had experienced bullying (66%) or violence (39%), and 53% reported hazardous alcohol use. Psychological distress was the most prevalent health problem (52%), and women generally had more physical and mental health problems than men. Self-perceived causal attributions of illness were mainly related to relational problems, followed by health behaviors, heredity/genetics, and external environmental factors. Conclusions: The study provides a deeper insight into a vulnerable group with substantial challenges related to adverse social experiences, psychological distress, and alcohol use, who emphasized relational problems as the main causal factor for their illness. Findings suggest a need for broader focus on psychological and social factors in vocational rehabilitation efforts targeting young adults at risk of early work disability. Furthermore, gender-specific approaches may be warranted and should be followed up in future studies.
Mental Health Services Research, 2004
Employment outcome for individuals with psychiatric disabilities has been a focus of empirical research over the past decade or so. The purpose of this paper is to review recent literature on the association between demographic and diagnostic factors and employment outcome, and to conduct meta analyses of the results of studies that report the association between these variables. Seventeen studies were included in these meta analyses. Results of the meta analyses tended to corroborate most of the significant findings found in the literature review. The authors review some of the issues for the meta-analyst interested in synthesizing research findings on employment outcome, including the challenges and limitations encountered in the published research currently available.
Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 2018
Chronic diseases are among the major causes of disability, and are associated with substantial individual and societal economic losses. The objective of this study was to assess the association of the different levels of disability, functioning, and work limitation, with chronic diseases. A total of 516 workers were classified according to chronic disease status, and evaluated for disability, functioning and work Limitation. Quantile regression was performed to assess the associations across the quantiles of the disability, functioning, and work limitation. Overall disability was significantly associated with chronic diseases across all quantiles, while work limitation was only significant at the median and higher quantiles. Functioning domains showed a variable pattern of associations across their quantiles. Chronic diseases showed a variable magnitude and significance of associations across the levels of disability, functioning, and work limitation.
Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 2007
Effects of co-occurring disorders on work outcomes were explored among individuals with severe mental illness who were participating in a multisite randomized study of supported employment. At seven sites, 1,273 people were randomly assigned to an experimental supported employment program or a control condition and followed for 2 years. Multivariate regression analysis examined work outcomes including earnings, hours worked, and competitive employment, as well as whether psychiatric disability was disclosed to coworkers and supervisors. Individuals with any comorbidity had lower earnings and were less likely to work competitively. Those with physical comorbidities had lower earnings, worked fewer hours, and were less likely to work competitively. Disclosure was more likely among those with both cognitive and physical comorbidities, as well as those with learning disabilities. Competitive employment was less likely among those with intellectual disability, visual impairment, and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The experimental condition was positively related to all outcomes except disclosure. The results suggest that, with some exceptions, comorbidities affect employment outcomes, requiring tailored services and supports to promote vocational success.