Vocational development of spinal cord injury patients: an 8-year follow-up.

This study determined the relationship between the vocational and educational plans, interests, work values, and rehabilitation outlook of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and their vocational and social adjustment 8 years after first hospital discharge. While hospitalized the patients were given 15 measures of vocational development on a scale ranging from 13 to 52. Reliabilities (r) of the 15 measures ranged from r = 0.77 to r = 0.96, with the average reliability of the scale measured at 0.88. Eight years after discharge each patient was sent a questionnaire covering his/her school and employment history since discharge. Occupational status was classified by 3 categories: competitive labor market, student or homemaker, and unemployed. All data were subjected to intercorrelations and factor analysis. Five persons were employed in the competitive labor market, 1 was a student, 1 had retired after working for 6 1/2 years, and 17 were unemployed. Compared to a study of the same group after 4 years, 2 more persons were employed, including 1 who subsequently retired. The best predictors after 8 years were vocational plans, work interests, work values, remotivation, rehabilitation outlook, and grade completed. Four years after discharge, the best predictors were educational and vocational plans and remotivation and rehabilitation outlook. The findings indicated that patients with traumatic SCI did not significantly enhance their employment after another 4 years in the community. Nevertheless, 6 measures of vocational development were predictive of vocational adjustment after discharge.