Factors That Influence Employment After Spinal Cord Injury in South Korea

OBJECTIVE To investigate employment status after spinal cord injury (SCI) and identify personal, family, and injury characteristics those affect their employment in South Korea. METHODS Participants were 334 community-dwelling persons 20-64 years of age who had sustained SCI for more than one year. Investigators visited each participant's home to carry out the survey. Bivariate and binary logistic regression analyses were performed to identify personal, family, and injury characteristics that influenced employment after SCI. RESULTS Employment rate decreased significantly from 82.5% to 27.5% after SCI. Logistic regression showed that the probability of employment was higher in men than women, and in individuals older than 45 years at the time of injury than those aged 31-45 years of age. Moreover, employment was higher in individuals injured for longer than 20 years than those injured for 1-5 years and in individuals with incomplete tetraplegia than those with complete paraplegia. Employment was lower in individuals with SCI caused by industrial accidents than those injured in non-industrial accidents. CONCLUSION Injury characteristics are the most important predictors of employment in persons with SCI. For persons with lower employment rate, individualized vocational rehabilitation and employment-support systems are required.