Prediction of rehabilitation status of young adults with cystic fibrosis.

This study determined the relationship between vocational and educational plans, work values, vocational choice, awareness of occupational requirements, intelligence, self-esteem, and clinical severity of patients with cystic fibrosis and their school and vocational status six years after hospital clinical evaluation. Initially, 52 adolescents were tested on the Goldberg Vocational Development Scale, the Army General Classification Test, Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and the Shwachman-Kulczycki System of Clinical Evaluation. Six years later each patient was sent a questionnaire to determine current school and employment. All data were subjected to intercorrelations (Pearson and biserial r) and analysis of variance. Eighteen survived and 15 responded. Ten were working in a variety of professional, semi-professional, and clerical jobs, two were unemployed due to cystic fibrosis, and three were still attending college. Of the 15, eight had graduated from college, nursing, or graduate school; one graduated from high school; three were full time students; and three were parttime students. The best predictors of school status were severity of illness (r = -0.55, p less than 0.01), and higher self esteem (r = 0.43, p less than 0.05). No single measure predicted work status. In a two-way analysis of variance using clinical severity and the average vocational development score, the main effect for severity (F = 4.19, p less than 0.05) was significant for student, but not for work status. It was concluded that the most powerful predictor of current student status was mild severity.