Quality of Life Outcomes for Veterans With Spinal Cord Injury Receiving Individual Placement and Support (IPS)

Understanding interventions and outcomes in supported employment and individual placement support: A qualitative evidence synthesis

BACKGROUND

Economically developed economies continue to display large and long-standing disability employment gaps. Train-then-place activation models have traditionally dominated efforts to support non-working disabled people to gain employment but recently there has been increasing interest in place-then-train Supported Employment (SE) activation models.

OBJECTIVE

Evidence regarding the effectiveness of SE approaches is growing. However, authors have called for greater understanding of the mechanisms underpinning these interventions. We therefore carried out a systematic review of qualitative research to understand the processes operating.

METHODS

We carried out a systematic review of qualitative research around SE interventions carried out in developed countries since 2000 in any population excepting those with severe mental illness. We used thematic synthesis and logic modelling methods and assessed the quality of the body of literature.

RESULTS

We identified and included 13 relevant source studies containing qualitative data. Key aspects of the programmes reported were the nature of the support, the employment advisor, and the type of employment. Influencing factors were client-related, employer and employment-related, programme-related, and system-related. Effects beyond the gaining of employment included a changed attitude to work, different outlook, increased skills and/or confidence. Suggested longer-term impacts were on health and wellbeing, financial security, independence, contribution to society and sense of belonging.

CONCLUSIONS

This review adds to the growing evidence regarding the value of SE interventions for disabled people. It adds insights regarding the key elements of the programmes, and suggests outcomes beyond the measures typically considered within quantitative studies.

Exploring well-being services from the perspective of people with SCI: A scoping review of qualitative research

Objective

Well-being after spinal cord injury is affected by a range of factors, many of which are within the influence of rehabilitation services. Although improving well-being is a key aim of rehabilitation, the literature does not provide a clear path to service providers who seek to improve well-being. This study aimed to inform service design by identifying the experience and perspective of people with SCI about interventions targeting their well-being.

Method

The scoping review of qualitative literature used thematic analysis to identify and categorize themes related to service activities, valued aspects, limitations and perceived outcomes.

Results

Thirty-eight studies were selected, related to a range of service types. Most studies did not adopt a well-being conceptual framework to design and evaluate the services. People with SCI particularly valued being treated with dignity, positive expectations, increased autonomy and peer support. Improvements to well-being were reported, including many years post-SCI. However, people with SCI reported limited opportunities to engage in such services.

Conclusions

Rehabilitation services can improve well-being across the lifetime of people with SCI, but gaps in service provision are reported. The review identified valued aspects of services that may inform service design, including staff approach and positive expectations, having own skills and worth valued, peer support and interaction, autonomy in valued occupations, and long-term opportunities for gains.

Experiences of VA vocational and education training and assistance services: Facilitators and barriers reported by veterans with disabilities

OBJECTIVE

To understand the experiences of veterans with disabilities and caregiving needs who use Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) vocational and education services, including Supported Employment, the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment.

METHOD

We conducted 26 joint semistructured interviews with post-9/11 veterans who had used at least one of three vocational and education services, and their family members who were enrolled in a VA Caregiver Support Program.

RESULTS

VA vocational and education services helped veterans with disabilities transition from the military into civilian life by providing skills and incremental exposure to engaging in everyday life tasks. Veteran motivation, caregiver support, and engaged staff at VA and academic institutions were key drivers of veteran success. Veterans who experienced challenges cited the following barriers: health problems, concerns about benefits loss if they became employed, and VA and academic programs that did not accommodate the needs of nontraditional veteran learners.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

There is a need to bolster VA vocational and educational services for veterans with disabilities in several domains, including modifying the roles of frontline staff and increasing communication between vocational counselors and health care teams to better accommodate the veteran's health-related limitations. Providing a vocational rehabilitation navigator to help veterans identify opportunities within VA and work/educational settings that are a good match for the veteran's goals and abilities could also be beneficial across vocational and educational services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The experience and perspective of people with spinal cord injury about well-being interventions: a systematic review of qualitative studies

PURPOSE

Promoting well-being is a key aim of rehabilitation. The intentional design of interventions to address well-being requires an understanding of the factors that affect this complex phenomenon. A growing body of qualitative literature has identified determinants that people with SCI report affect their well-being. It is unclear whether or how rehabilitation interventions can influence these well-being determinants. This study sought to explore the experience and perspective of people with SCI about interventions that target their well-being.

METHOD

Systematic search of seven databases. Deductive analysis to categorize findings related to well-being determinants, and further inductive coding to identify sub-themes, relationships and additional findings.

RESULTS

Twenty studies were selected, involving a wide range of interventions. Each intervention influenced a number of well-being determinants, which were inter-related. People with SCI reported improvements in both subjective and psychological well-being. However, well-being was not always well defined in the studies and people with SCI reported lack of priority for, and opportunity to engage in, well-being interventions in the current rehabilitation system.

CONCLUSIONS

Rehabilitation interventions can influence well-being determinants. These determinants form a useful framework for the intentional design of well-being interventions, which should be informed by a broad understanding of well-being.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONWell-being can be influenced by rehabilitation interventions, and a more explicit focus on well-being in intervention design and evaluation is recommended.Conceptual frameworks used to define and measure well-being should adopt a broad understanding of well-being.Well-being interventions should address the determinants identified by people with SCI (engaging in occupation, responsibility, values and perspectives, self-worth, self-continuity, relationships and the environment).People with SCI want a greater priority placed on well-being interventions, and more opportunities to engage in these interventions, especially in the community.

30 Years After the Americans with Disabilities Act: Perspectives on Employment for Persons with Spinal Cord Injury

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, represented landmark legislation and led to significant improvements in accessibility, such as prohibiting discrimination based on disability in public life, including employment. Now 30 years later, however, employment rates for persons with disabilities, including spinal cord injury, remain low. This article discusses why employment is so important for persons with spinal cord injury and challenges that remain. Presented are previously unpublished employment data from a nationally representative US sample. Finally, the state of the art of vocational rehabilitation, including models proven to facilitate this critical rehabilitation outcome, is discussed.

International Comparison of Vocational Rehabilitation for Persons With Spinal Cord Injury: Systems, Practices, and Barriers

Background: Employment rates among people with spinal cord injury or spinal cord disease (SCI/D) show considerable variation across countries. One factor to explain this variation is differences in vocational rehabilitation (VR) systems. International comparative studies on VR however are nonexistent. Objectives: To describe and compare VR systems and practices and barriers for return to work in the rehabilitation of persons with SCI/D in multiple countries. Methods: A survey including clinical case examples was developed and completed by medical and VR experts from SCI/D rehabilitation centers in seven countries between April and August 2017. Results: Location (rehabilitation center vs community), timing (around admission, toward discharge, or after discharge from clinical rehabilitation), and funding (eg, insurance, rehabilitation center, employer, or community) of VR practices differ. Social security services vary greatly. The age and preinjury occupation of the patient influences the content of VR in some countries. Barriers encountered during VR were similar. No participant mentioned lack of interest in VR among team members as a barrier, but all mentioned lack of education of the team on VR as a barrier. Other frequently mentioned barriers were fatigue of the patient (86%), lack of confidence of the patient in his/her ability to work (86%), a gap in the team's knowledge of business/legal aspects (86%), and inadequate transportation/accessibility (86%). Conclusion: VR systems and practices, but not barriers, differ among centers. The variability in VR systems and social security services should be considered when comparing VR study results.