Interventions for return to work of persons with spinal cord injury

Abstract

The return to work of persons with spinal cord injuries is very important for their mental and physical health, economic status, social integration and quality of life. The process of return to work or employment is complex and involves considering many personal factors, injury-related and contextual factors that can make predicting return to work success difficult. On the other hand, there are factors that can contribute to the success of this process. The purpose of this paper is summarizing scientific knowledge on return to work of persons who experienced spinal cord injury based on literature review. Analyzing of the recent research, it was discussed of the effectiveness of interventions for return to work in persons with spinal cord injury Consideration was focused on vocational rehabilitation intervention as general and on early vocational rehabilitation, multidisciplinary team approach, coordination return to work and workplace intervention as specific intervention in frame of vocational rehabilitation. It can be concluded that all the mentioned interventions have a positive impact on the return to work of persons after spinal cord injury directly by shortening the time of return to work, and on indirectly way leading to better mental health, social integration, self-confidence and motivation.