Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Volume 90, Issue 10 , Pages 1716-1722, October 2009

A Prospective Study of Factors Influencing Return to Work After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in Taiwan

  • Mau-Roung Lin, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests to Mau-Roung Lin, PhD, Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei 110, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Hei-Fen Hwang, MS

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nursing, National Taipei College of Nursing, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
    • ,
  • Wen-Yu Yu, MD, MS

      Affiliations

    • Department of Emergency Medicine, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
    • ,
  • Chih-Yi Chen, MS

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

Abstract 

Lin M-R, Hwang H-F, Yu W-Y, Chen C-Y. A prospective study of factors influencing return to work after traumatic spinal cord injury in Taiwan.

Objective

To examine comprehensively the effects of physical, psychologic, and sociologic characteristics on employment among persons after a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in Taiwan.

Design

A prospective study with follow-up telephone interviews over a 3-year period.

Setting

To register people who had sustained an SCI, medical records of 4 hospitals were reviewed using codes of the International Classification of Diseases–9th Revision–Clinical Modifications from 806.0 to 806.9 and from 952.0 to 952.9.

Participants

Subjects (N=219) employed at the time of injury.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Employment status after an SCI.

Results

The employment rate was 32.9%. After controlling for other variables, education level (relative rate [RR]=4.01∼8.17), autonomy in transportation (RR=5.13), professional licensure (RR=1.86), and thrill and adventure-seeking trait (RR=1.12) were positively and significantly associated with employment, while subjects with more severe overall injury severity (RR=0.95), preinjury chronic conditions (RR=0.20), necessity for aids for daily living (RR=0.31), and depression (RR=0.38) were less likely to have been employed than their counterparts.

Conclusions

In addition to education level and traditional physical factors, overall injury severity and psychologic factors such as thrill and adventure seeking and depression can also influence the return to work after an SCI.

Key Words: Depression, Employment, Rehabilitation, Social support

List of Abbreviations: ADL, activity of daily living, AIS, Abbreviated Injury Scale, ASIA, American Spinal Cord Injury Association, BS, boredom susceptibility, CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, ISS, Injury Severity Score, SCI, spinal cord injury, TAS, thrill and adventure seeking

 

 This work was funded by the National Health Research Institute (NHRI-EX96-9204PP), Taiwan, Republic of China.

 No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.

PII: S0003-9993(09)00358-X

doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2009.04.006

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Volume 90, Issue 10 , Pages 1716-1722, October 2009

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