Abstract
BACKGROUND: Employment is of great importance to adult life and the onset of a disabling condition presents significant challenges to maintaining employment or obtaining new employment. Diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) typically occurs during the most active years of employment. OBJECTIVE: To identify employment status, earnings, and job satisfaction of participants with MS and to compare these findings with that from a study of the National MS Society (NMSS). METHODS: Data were collected via mailed and web self-report assessment. RESULTS: We found an overall employment rate of 44.6%. This was higher than the rate observed in the NMSS study (39.3%). Among those who were employed, the majority of participants were in the two lowest earning categories (less than $25,000=23.1%; $25,000-49,999=24.3%). Education was highly related to employment. For race/ethnicity, the highest employment rate was observed for non-Hispanic white participants (48.19%), followed by Hispanic (44.68%) and non-Hispanic blacks (35.9%). CONCLUSIONS: MS is related to diminishing employment outcomes that may affect participation and quality of life.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 177-186 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.
Funding
This research was funded through a Health Care Delivery and Policy Research grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, New York, NY. The authors wish to thank the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, its participating chapters, and the study participants for their support and assistance with this research. The Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA served as one of the data collection site, under the leadership of Dr. Deborah Backus. The contents of this publication were also developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR, Grant #90RT5035). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this publication do not necessarily represent the policies of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS,
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Office of Rehabilitation Research | |
| National Multiple Sclerosis Society | |
| National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) | |
| National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) | 90RT5035 |
Keywords
- Multiple sclerosis
- employment
- job satisfaction
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Rehabilitation
- Occupational Therapy