Inclusion of Legally Blind Women in the Randolph-Sheppard Program: Issues and Practices

A national survey of directors of the Business Enterprise Program Vending Facility Program indicated that women who are legally blind are significantly under-represented, making up about 24% of the licensed facility managers. This article reports on the survey and suggests ways to eliminate barriers to the recruitment of women into the program.

Exploring the diversity of conceptualizations of work (dis)ability: a scoping review of published definitions

PURPOSE

Researchers are confronted to numerous definitions of work ability/disability, influenced by their context of emergence, discipline, purpose, underlying paradigm and relationship to time. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the concept through a systematic scoping review and the development of an integrative concept map of work (dis)ability. The research questions are: How has work (dis)ability been conceptualized from the perspectives of research, practice, policy and industry in the published scientific literature? How has the conceptualization of work (dis)ability evolved over time?

METHODS

A search strategy was designed with a library scientist to retrieve scientific publications containing explicit definition(s) of work (dis)ability in leading-edge databases. The screening and the extraction of the definitions were achieved by duplicate assessment. The definitions were subject to a comparative analysis based on the grounded theory approach.

RESULTS

In total, 423 abstracts were retrieved from the bibliographic databases. After removing duplicates, 280 unique records were screened for inclusion. A final set of 115 publications containing unique original conceptual definitions served as basis for analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

The scientific literature does not reflect a shared, integrated vision of the exact nature and dimensions of work (dis)ability. However, except for a few definitions, there seems to be a consensus that work (dis)ability is a relational concept resulting from the interaction of multiple dimensions that influence each other through different ecological levels. The conceptualization of work (dis)ability also seems to have become more dynamic over time. The way work (dis)ability is defined has important implications for research, compensation and rehabilitation.

The demographic and contextual correlates of work-related repetitive strain injuries among Canadian men and women

BACKGROUND

The study sought to identify gender differences in work-related repetitive strain injuries (RSI), as well as examine the degree to which non-work factors such as family roles interact with gender to modify RSI risk. Another aim is to examine whether there are potential provincial differences in work-related RSI risk.

METHODS

The 2003/2005 Canadian Community Health Survey included over 89,000 respondents who reported working in the past 12 months. Separate multi-level models for men and women were used to identify the correlates of work-related RSIs.

RESULTS

Women reported sustaining more work-related RSIs than men. Also, having one or more children in the household was associated with lower work-related RSI risk for females. Both men and women in British Columbia reported higher work-related RSI rates than in Ontario.

CONCLUSIONS

Gender contributes to RSI risk in multiple and diverse ways based on labor market segregation, non-work exposures, and possibly biological vulnerability, which suggests more tailored interventions. Also, the provincial differences indicate that monitoring and surveillance of work injury across jurisdictions can assist in province-wide prevention and occupational health and safety evaluation.

Breast Cancer Survivorship and Work Disability

Breast cancer survivors can anticipate a number of years of paid labor market participation. Therefore, the link between breast cancer survivorship and productivity deserves serious consideration. The hypothesis guiding this study is that arm disability, particularly pain and range of motion limitations, are important explanatory variables in survivors’ loss of productivity. The study investigates the association between productivity and arm disability over time. The longitudinal data are drawn from survivors in four geographical locations in Canada. Regression results indicate that survivors with arm pain, 2.5 to 3 years postsurgery, are almost 8 times more likely to experience a loss in productivity compared to those survivors without pain, and those with some range of motion limitations are 4 times more likely to experience productivity loss 2.5 to 3 years postsurgery compared to their counterparts without limitations. More than 40% of survivors begin to or continue to experience productivity loss as long as 30 to 36 months after surgery and that the loss in productivity is primarily due to two forms of arm disability: pain and range-of-motion limitations. These findings highlight the importance of rehabilitation programming for breast cancer survivors.

Women's experiences of developing musculoskeletal diseases: employment challenges and policy recommendations

PURPOSE

To answer three specific questions: (i) How do women experience the workplace after the onset of a musculoskeletal disease; (ii) What employment policy and programme suggestions can they offer for ways to better support chronically ill women in their abilities to maintain workforce participation; and (iii) How are these women's employment policy and programme recommendations informed by their own lived experiences and desires?

METHOD

In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 women who had developed musculoskeletal diseases while involved in the labour market. Data were coded and analysed thematically.

RESULTS

Participants identified three common workplace barriers experienced and three types of workplace accommodations commonly requested. They offered four specific employment policy and programme recommendations for ways to better support women who develop musculoskeletal diseases in maintaining labour market participation. It is found that their employment policy and programme recommendations are informed by their own experiences in the workplace and desires for being supported in maintaining involvement in paid labour.

CONCLUSIONS

Creating employment programmes and policies that support chronically ill women in their attempts to remain involved in the workforce based on how much paid labour they are able to perform and where they are best able to work is of the utmost importance.