Vocational adjustment after total laryngectomy.

In-depth interviews were conducted with 60 laryngectomy patients. Data were collected on postsurgical rehabilitation in terms of employment, speech, and social functioning. Analysis of the data indicated that only one-third of the respondents were working fulltime or parttime. Twenty-six (43%) of the respondents were retired or not working, due to their health. Employment after surgery was not statistically related to the other measures of rehabilitation success that indicated levels of social functioning in general. In addition, most of the respondents did not cite employer discrimination as their reason for not working. Failure to work after surgery appeared in most cases to be initiated by the respondent, and did not indicate a failure to achieve a high level of rehabilitation in other areas of functioning.