Perceived job quality among persons with spinal cord injury: The contribution of sociodemographic characteristics, health-related factors, and person-job match.

CONTEXT/OBJECTIVE: Perceived job quality is a key indicator of sustainable work among persons with spinal cord injuries (PwSCI). This study aimed at (a) describing three indicators of perceived job quality (i.e. job satisfaction, job performance, and work stress) among working PwSCI, and (b) identifying whether and how different person-job match dimensions (i.e. interest congruence, demands-abilities fit, needs-supplies fit, and effort-reward imbalance) as well as sociodemographic and health-related factors (e.g. age, sex, SCI-related characteristics, pain problems, and depressive symptoms) are associated with perceived job quality. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, self-report survey. SETTING: Community. PARTICIPANTS: 549 working-age PwSCI who participated in the 2017 community survey of the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort study and reported being engaged in paid work. OUTCOME MEASURES: Job satisfaction, job performance, and work stress. RESULTS: Higher interest congruence, better needs-supplies fit and lower effort-reward imbalance, as well as female sex, were associated with higher job satisfaction, while higher effort-reward imbalance, poorer demands-abilities fit (underqualification), and - surprisingly - better needs-supplies fit were associated with higher work stress. Moreover, underqualification, worse needs-supplies fit as well as pain, depressive symptoms, and language region were associated with lower job performance. CONCLUSION: Integrating individuals in jobs that match their abilities, interests and needs, and which adequately reward their efforts may contribute to better job quality among PwSCI. Beyond that, common secondary health conditions and comorbidities such as pain and depressive symptoms should receive particular attention in interventions that aim to promote job quality and ultimately sustainable work in the SCI population.

Pre- and post-injury job type distributions of individuals with SCI in relation to structural changes in the labor market: A comparative analysis based on findings from the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study.

Objective: To compare pre- and post-injury job type distributions of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) living in Switzerland.Design: Cross-sectional, self-report survey.Setting: Community.Participants: Two hundred sixty-three individuals reporting a pre- and 677 a post-injury job title in the Swiss SCI Cohort Study community survey.Interventions: Not applicable.Outcome Measures: Job titles were elicited by free-text questions and classified using the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08). Frequencies across ISCO-08 major groups were calculated and compared to Swiss labor market statistics for 1995 and 2011.Results: Compared to pre-SCI, Professionals (16.3% vs 31.2%) and Clerical Support Workers (11.7% vs 19.1%) were more prevalent and Crafts and Related Workers (26.5% vs 5.4%) less common post-injury. Except for Clerical Support Workers, these results reflect recent structural changes in the Swiss labor market.Conclusion: The higher post-SCI prevalence of jobs predominantly requiring cognitive and communication skills compared to rather physically oriented jobs mirrors structural changes in the labor market, except for clerical jobs. Future return-to-work strategies should not primarily target the clerical sector with its diminishing job opportunities, but promote vocational re-training towards jobs requiring higher education and assistive technology to return individuals with limited cognitive resources to physically oriented jobs.

An interdisciplinary approach to job matching: developing an occupation-specific job matching tool for reintegrating persons with spinal cord injury into the labor market.

Purpose: To develop and pretest a comprehensive occupation- and health condition-specific job matching tool for vocational rehabilitation of persons with spinal cord injury.Materials and methods: The study design involved qualitative and quantitative steps. First, an interdisciplinary scoping review covering return-to-work, organizational and vocational psychology research was conducted to devise a conceptual job matching framework. Then, the occupation- and health condition-specific tool content was determined based on a database analysis of jobs performed by persons with spinal cord injury and focus groups with affected persons. Finally, a tool prototype was developed and pretested in a simulation exercise with vocational rehabilitation professionals.Results: The study yielded a tool prototype with matching profiles that structure the demands and characteristics of 415 occupations as well as spinal cord injury-related needs and limitations into a stable, a modifiable, and a needs-supplies dimension of person-job match. Vocational rehabilitation professionals perceived the prototype as helpful for determining target jobs for vocational retraining and for goal-oriented intervention planning.Conclusions: By comprehensively assessing the person-job match of individuals with spinal cord injury, the tool facilitates determining suitable target jobs and interdisciplinary intervention planning in vocational rehabilitation and is thus likely to promote sustainable return to work.Implications for rehabilitationJob matching is crucial for a sustainable work reintegration of persons with disabilities. However, the majority of existing job matching tools lack applicability for return to work because they are (1) not occupation-specific or rely on outdated occupational information, (2) not health condition-specific, and (3) not comprehensive with regard to the relevant aspects for determining a person-job match.Persons with spinal cord injury are a case in point for the need of job matching tools that comprehensively address occupation- and health condition-specific information.The present study responded to the shortcomings of existing job matching tools and uses vocational rehabilitation of persons with spinal cord injury as a case in point for developing a job matching tool that is both occupation- and health condition-specific at the same time.The developed tool was perceived as promising for determining suitable target jobs for vocational retraining of persons with spinal cord injury and for goal-oriented intervention planning in an interdisciplinary vocational rehabilitation setting. The tool's underlying conceptual framework may also serve as a blueprint for developing job matching tools for other types of disabilities.

Factors, assessments and interventions related to job matching in the vocational rehabilitation of persons with spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND: Matching an individual's capabilities, interests and needs with corresponding job demands and characteristics is an established procedure in vocational rehabilitation (VR). Yet, a systematic exposition of specific factors affecting the determination and attainment of a person-job match in VR practice is currently missing. OBJECTIVE: To examine factors, assessments and interventions related to job matching (JM) in VR of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) by using a literature-based conceptual JM framework. METHODS: Applying a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected by overt non-participant observations across the VR process of two individuals with SCI, representing major return-to-work scenarios (returning to the pre-injury job and preparing for vocational retraining). RESULTS: Person-related, job-related and environmental factors were identified that either played a direct or indirect role in determining and attaining a person-job match. The factors were evaluated by different work-related and medical assessments and were targeted by a number of JM-related interventions. CONCLUSIONS: While our conceptual framework may serve as a generic blueprint to facilitate JM approaches in VR practice, the specific factors identified in our study are particularly valuable for developing JM applications aimed at promoting sustainable return to work for persons with SCI.

Job matching: An interdisciplinary scoping study with implications for vocational rehabilitation counseling.

PURPOSE: Matching a person's capabilities and characteristics with the demands and characteristics of their job is crucial for sustainable employment, in particular for persons with disabilities. The present study aims to summarize and synthesize conceptual and empirical knowledge on job matching (JM) from industrial and organizational psychology (IOP), vocational psychology (VP), and return to work (RTW) research. RESEARCH METHOD: We conducted a scoping study applying Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) framework and using eight electronic databases from psychology, economics, and medicine. The literature search covered studies in English and German published between 1945 and 2015. RESULTS: A total of 312 studies were selected and analyzed. Of these, 205 were assigned to IOP, 45 to VP, 31 to both IOP and VP, and 17 to RTW research. Fourteen studies were allocated to both RTW and VP research, representing the field of vocational rehabilitation counseling. IOP and VP studies predominantly investigated the effects of JM on work-related outcomes, such as job satisfaction, tenure, or career development. RTW research focused on the development of mainly generic JM tools for job placement of persons with disabilities. Limited cross-fertilization between IOP and VP and the RTW context became evident. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike in IOP and VP, there is a dearth of JM research in the RTW context. Integrating the broad organizational and occupational JM knowledge from IOP and VP with the biopsychosocial framework of RTW could provide a sound basis for developing JM applications in vocational rehabilitation counseling that promote sustainable work reintegration of persons with disabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record

Work-Family Conflict, Task Interruptions, and Influence at Work Predict Musculoskeletal Pain in Operating Room Nurses.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints in Swiss operating room (OR) nurses, and to investigate how work-family conflict, work interruptions, and influence at work are related to lumbar and cervical back pain. METHODS: Participants in this correlational questionnaire study included 116 OR nurses from eight different hospitals in Switzerland. RESULTS: We found that 66% of the OR staff suffered from musculoskeletal problems. The most prevalent musculoskeletal complaints were lumbar (52.7%) and cervical pain (38.4%). Furthermore, 20.5% reported pain in the mid spine region, 20.5% in the knees and legs, and 9.8% in the hands and feet. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that work-family conflict (p < 0.05) and interruptions (p < 0.05) significantly predicted lumbar and cervical pain in OR nurses, while influence at work (p < 0.05) only predicted lumbar pain. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that reducing the work-family conflict and interruptions at work, as well as offering opportunities to influence one's workplace, help to promote OR nurses' health.

Workflow interruptions and failed action regulation in surgery personnel.

BACKGROUND: Workflow interruptions during surgery may cause a threat to patient's safety. Workflow interruptions were tested to predict failure in action regulation that in turn predicts near-accidents in surgery and related health care. METHODS: One-hundred-and-thirty-three theater nurses and physicians from eight Swiss hospitals participated in a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. The study participation rate was 43%. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling confirmed an indirect path from workflow interruptions through cognitive failure in action regulation on near-accidents (p < 0.05). The indirect path was stronger for workflow interruptions by malfunctions and task organizational blockages compared with workflow interruptions that were caused by persons. The indirect path remained meaningful when individual differences in conscientiousness and compliance with safety regulations were controlled. CONCLUSION: Task interruptions caused by malfunction and organizational constraints are likely to trigger errors in surgery. Work redesign is recommended to reduce workflow interruptions by malfunction and regulatory constraints.