Abstract
Objective
To identify how prediagnosis employment, education, demographic statuses, and disease
factors relate to job retention among people with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Design
Cross-sectional logit model.
Setting
Data were collected at an academic Medical University and a specialty hospital, both
in the Southeastern US.
Participants
People with MS (N=1126) who were employed at the time of MS diagnosis.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Job retention was measured by employment status at the time of follow-up assessment.
Results
Prediagnostic educational attainment was predictive of job retention. Among several
prediagnostic employment characteristics, only working in production, transportation,
and material moving was significantly related to a lower odds of job retention compared
with those working in professional/managerial occupations. Aging factors were strongly
related to job retention, with declines in job retention observed with increasing
age and years since diagnosis. Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic participants reported
lower odds of job retention than non-Hispanic White participants, although there were
no observed effects of sex. A significantly lower job retention rate was observed
among those with progressive MS, compared with relapsing-remitting. Job retention
was also less likely among people with greater MS severity and fatigue.
Conclusions
Job retention strategies and interventions should target people with greater MS complications
and severity, as well as non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic persons, because these characteristics
are more highly related to job retention than our prediagnostic employment and vocational
history.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
CI (confidence interval), MS (multiple sclerosis), OR (odds ratio), VR (vocational rehabilitation)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 17, 2022
Accepted:
May 10,
2022
Received in revised form:
May 6,
2022
Received:
February 28,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
The contents of this publication were developed under grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), 90RT5035. NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this publication do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ADL, or HHS, and it should not be assumed to be an endorsement by the funding agency or Federal Government.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.
