Barriers to employment for MSers

#MSBlog: Given sufficient time MS causes the majority of MSers to become unemployed. Why?

Epub: Carrieri et al. Determinants of on-the-job-barriers in employed persons with multiple sclerosis: The role of disability severity and cognitive indices. Work. 2013 Mar 26.

BACKGROUND: Literature has shown that work maintenance is central in order to guarantee participation from MSers. Knowledge about potential sources of difficulties and obstacles is crucial in order to prevent barriers and facilitate work maintenance and career development for MSers.

OBJECTIVE: Studies analyzing on-the-job barriers among employed MSers have found evidence for a role of clinical determinants. The aim of this study was to describe in more detail the role of disability severity and of cognitive indices on work barriers.


PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two employed adult MSers with mild to moderate disability severity were included in the study. They were involved in the descriptive study while attending their planned care in the MS unit.

METHODS: Subjects completed neurocognitive tasks, a self-report measure of executive functioning and a face-to-face semi-structured interview exploring their perception of barriers at work.

RESULTS: Regression analyses showed a specific role of disability severity on perception of barriers due to physical, cognitive and interpersonal relationships; while cognitive indices appeared to predict barriers ascribed to company policy (cognitive score), accessibility (planning score) or difficulties in cognitive and task related abilities (self-rated executive functioning).

CONCLUSION: These findings underline the relevance of objective tasks and self-report questionnaires direct and indirect multi-dimensional assessment of functioning for early intervention planning. An ecological model of career development in adults with disabilities is also supported.




"We know that, given sufficient time, the majority of MSers are unemployed. In the Denmark 50% of MSers are unemployed 10 years after diagnosis. In the UK this figure is worse and comes in at ~8.5 years. What is it about MS that drives unemployment? Is it society's perspective of the disease? Is it early cognitive problems, fatigue, depression, anxiety? This qualitative study demonstrates that there are many barriers to work."

"To explore this further I would appreciate it if you could take the time to complete the following survey. As always I will post the results on the blog in a few weeks time. Thanks."



Other posts of interest on this topic:

Research: cognitive impairment and unemployment - Multiple ...
07 Nov 2012
Social consequences of multiple sclerosis (1): early pension and temporary unemployment--a historical prospective cohort study. Mult Scler. 2010 Jan;16(1):121-6. "This study confirms other data sets in the literature that MS is ...
01 Mar 2012
Social consequences of multiple sclerosis (1): early pension and temporary unemployment--a historical prospective cohort study. Mult Scler. 2010 Jan;16(1):121-6. "This study confirms other data sets in the literature that MS is ...
11 Nov 2011
Background: MS is associated with significant economic burden and high rates of unemployment. Objectives: This study evaluated MS'ers and disease characteristics associated with work loss and work initiation using the ...
28 Dec 2012
In general, it is possible to affirm that MS has a strong impact on patients' employment status, as the mean unemployment rate was 59%. Research on factors promoting maintenance of remunerative employment is required.

Labels: ,