Employment acquisition

Socio-demographic data and their employment outcome after a six-month job skills retraining and job settlement service were collected for analysis.

Data on individuals receiving vocational rehabilitation services were obtained from the US Department of Education‚ Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. This included demographic variables, impairment cause, types and cost of services paid for by the Rehabilitation Services Administration, reasons for closure, and competitive employment status. There were three dependent variables. The first indicating whether the case was closed because the rehabilitation service provider believed that the individual‚ disability was too significant to benefit from services. The second was the total dollar amount the state VR agency spent on services. The third was whether individuals
achieved competitive employment by the time of case closure. Bivariate associations between impairment cause and all other variables were estimated using means, medians and ANOVA for expenditure data, and frequencies and chi square tests for all other variables.

Baseline comparisons

In order to assess baseline equivalence of the groups, proportions of categorical variables at baseline were compared according to initial group assignment using 2-tests. Values of continuous measures were compared using either the t-test or, for non-normally distributed variables, the (non-parametric) Mann-Whitney U-test.

Vocational outcomes

Intention-to-treat analyses were conducted first, including all individuals and time periods for which we had data. Groups were compared on measures pertaining to any paid work (competitive or not) and competitive work only.

Questionnaires were mailed to all RA patients who used a province-wide arthritis treatment program between 1991 and 1998 (n = 1,824). The association between risk factors and WD ( as no paid work due to RA for at least 6 months) was assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis, controlling for significant sociodemographic and disease-related variables.

Five studies met the inclusion criteria. These comprised one European mufti-centre RCT where London was one of six centers, one solely UK-based RCT, one cohort study, one naturalistic study and one small service evaluation. Critical Appraisal of papers was conducted using the NICE Quality appraisal checklist. Each study is awarded an overall study quality grading for internal validity (IV)and a separate one for external validity (EV):
1. All or most of the checklist criteria have been fulfilled, where they have not been fulfilled the conclusions are very unlikely to alter.
2. Some of the checklist criteria have been fulfilled, where they have not been fulfilled, or not adequately described, the conclusions are unlikely to alter.
3. Few or no checklist criteria have been fulfilled and the conclusions are likely or very likely to alter.

No specific data was collected or analyzed. Three case studies illustrated three interventions to help individuals with TBI with returning to work.

Assessment was conducted a minimum number of four times: at enrollment, three months after entry, and every three months thereafter until attempted entry to post-secondary education or employment. In addition, each mentor and mentee completed a questionnaire which documented satisfaction with the relationship. Finally, the program used standardized assessments to include the Disability Rating Scale to include Employability and Level of Functioning, the Participation Index of the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory, version 4, the Supervision Rating Scale, the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique Short Form, and the Diener Satisfaction with Life Scale. A successful transition was as the individual remained in the post-secondary education or employment environment.

Data were collected by mentors and project staff. Formal assessments were collected by trained research assistants. Mentors submitted meeting logs documenting when, where, and topics discussed. Data were stored in an Access database and descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted using SPSS. Pre and post test program scores on standardized outcome measures were compared by paired T-tests.

Cognitive retraining data was taken from participants' Cognitive Retraining charts. More specific, this included: initial, last, best and mean scores for each of the four study tasks. Data on process variables associated with the tasks came from the Cognitive Retraining Behaviour Checklist completed by the person's primary therapist. Scores on Working Alliance came from patient charts. Information on participant's employment and/or school status also came from the chart.

Study participants were randomly assigned into the ISE (n = 58), IPS (n = 65) and traditional vocational rehabilitation (TVR) (n = 66) groups. Vocational and non-vocational outcomes of the ISE and IPS participants were collected by a blind and independent assessor at 7 11, 15, 21, 27, 33 and 39 months after their admission, whereas the TVR groups were assessed only up to the 15th month follow up.

Data collection involved the following: Employment Outcome Checklist (EOC) assessed their employment outcomes such as the number of job interviews attended, the number of jobs obtained, number of hours per week worked, and salary received from each of the jobs that were obtained . The 21-item Chinese Job Stress Coping Scale (CJSC) assessed the coping strategies of participants when faced with job stress, using a five-point response scale ranging from 1 (hardly ever do this) to 5 (almost always do this). The coping dimensions included help seeking, positive self-appraisal, work adjustment, and avoidance. The Chinese Job Termination Checklist (CJTC) is the Chinese version of the Job termination Scale.