title: Predicting employment status at 2 years' postdischarge from spinal cord injury rehabilitation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This exploratory study examined the extent to which postinjury employment was predictable when patients were followed up 2 years' postdischarge from a specialist Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-two individuals with SCI for whom there were discharge Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scores, 60 complete sets of data were available for Discriminant Function Analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using a combination of variables assessed prior to or shortly after discharge from rehabilitation, complemented by psychosocial variables assessed at the time of follow-up, moderate classification accuracy was achieved with respect to employment status at the 2-year follow-up period (72%), with the set of predictor variables being more accurate at predicting those subsequently in paid employment (83%) than those not (67%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The main implication of the study results is that nontraditional variables (i.e., variables other than injury and demographic variables), including, particularly, contextual environmental variables such as community integration, access to transport, and social support, are worthy of further research, especially because many of these are amenable to rehabilitation program interventions, and thus may facilitate the attainment of enhanced rates of postdischarge employment among those living with SCI.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, La Trobe University.
authors.forename: Gregory C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney.
authors.forename: James
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2777-8619
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Middleton
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quirk
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney.
authors.forename: Annelies
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Wolf
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney.
authors.forename: Ian D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Cameron
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales; D011379:Prognosis; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012944:Social Support; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D014186:Transportation