title: Psychosocial adjustment of Israeli veterans with disabilities: Does employment status matter?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Since its establishment in 1948, the state of Israel has been deeply committed to reintegrating veterans with disabilities into mainstream society. Prominently, the Israeli Ministry of Defence's rehabilitation division provides veterans with disabilities with a wide array of benefits and services aimed at restoring their physical and psychosocial functioning, especially in the workplace. The focus on employment is motivated by a prevailing assumption among professionals that successful adjustment to disability is contingent on an individual's ability to reacquire normative occupational function. To date, however, this widely accepted wisdom has not been empirically scrutinized.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To empirically explore whether employment status is associated to psychological, social, and behavioural adjustment attributes.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and one employed veterans were compared to 111 non-employed veterans in respect to their self-reported levels of hope, acceptance of disability, social networks size and social participation patterns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Employed veterans reported significantly higher levels psychological adjustment as manifested in elevated hope and acceptance of disability and lighter social network than their non-employed counterparts. However no differences were found between employed and non-employed veterans with respect to their social participation patterns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The value of these findings, as well as wider implications for rehabilitation professionals and policy makers, is discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Araten-Bergman
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Ariel University Center of Samaria, Israel.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tal-Katz
authors.affiliation: Executive Director, Harvard Law School Project on Disability, Cambridge, MA, USA Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, USA William & Mary Law School, Williamsburg, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael Ashley
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D000066498:Emotional Adjustment; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report; D058992:Social Participation / Q000523:psychology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Hope; acceptance of disability; social integration