The impact of psychosocial 'markers' on the outcome of rehabilitation.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to identify substantial psychosocial events--'psychosocial markers' (PMs) in the clients files and to correlate the PMs to the outcome of the rehabilitation, in order to find out whether this information had any impact on the outcome of vocational rehabilitation (VR).


METHODS
Three-hundred and seventy-two individuals were included, being an object of a VR measure during 1993-1994. All were impaired by either disc hernia back pain syndrome or other diseases of the loco-motor system. The PM was defined as any psychosocial loaded information of the person's life situation, not immediately related to the original set of medical problems.


RESULTS
Twenty-seven PMs were identified among men and 36 for women. Alcohol related problems dominated for men and private life related problems for women. Only approximately 25% of the PM concerned work related matters. After 3 years the OR (odds ratio) for full disability pension was 2.6 (n.s.) for men with the PM and 4.3 (p < 0.05) for women. The outcome was independent of background factors such as unemployment, blue-collar work and low education.


CONCLUSIONS
The PM was found to be an important and independent factor to impact the outcome of rehabilitation in women.
Kaiser
P O
PO
Department of Primary Health Care, University of Göteborg, Sweden. po@kaisers.pp.se
Mattsson
B
B
Marklund
S
S
Wimo
A
A
D001416:Back Pain / Q000534:rehabilitation; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004493:Education; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational / Q000523:psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological