abstract: 'BACKGROUND: People with spinal cord injuries (SCI) are underrepresented

  in the labour force.

  OBJECTIVE: To examine the meaning of employment, as it is understood in

  the context of participation and integration in society, among persons

  with SCI in six European countries. We ask how SCI relates to

  employment, for the functions of employment, alternatives to employment,

  and its obstacles.

  METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 74 persons and

  qualitatively analysed using a grounded theory approach.

  RESULTS: Employment was ranked as very important independent of the

  participants current employment status. We identified three main

  functions of employment: 1) employment contributes to the creation of

  personal and collective identity and social recognition; 2) employment

  enables structuring of time and distracts from impairment and pain; 3)

  employment is as an important social arena that facilitates interaction

  with other people. Voluntary work and domestic work did not fully

  replace the social functions of employment, nor correspond to the design

  of the disability compensation systems.

  CONCLUSION: This study illustrates the high value of employment and a

  need to pay more attention to a broader range of productive work. It

  also reveals the interdependencies between employment status and income

  mediated by the disability compensation schemes.'
affiliation: 'Leiulfsrud, AS (Corresponding Author), St Olavs Univ Hosp, Spinal Cord
  Unit, N-7006 Trondheim, Norway.

  Leiulfsrud, Annelie Schedin, St Olavs Univ Hosp, Spinal Cord Unit, Dept Phys Med
  \& Rehabil, Trondheim, Norway.

  Ruoranen, Kaisa; Ostermann, Anne; Reinhardt, Jan D., Swiss Parapleg Res, Nottwil,
  Switzerland.

  Ruoranen, Kaisa, Univ Bern, Inst Sport Sci, Bern, Switzerland.

  Ostermann, Anne, Univ Witten Herdecke, Fac Cultural Reflect, Witten, Germany.

  Reinhardt, Jan D., Univ Lucerne, Dept Hlth Sci \& Hlth Policy, Luzern, Switzerland.

  Reinhardt, Jan D., Sichuan Univ, Inst Disaster Management \& Reconstruct, Chengdu,
  Sichuan Provinc, Peoples R China.

  Reinhardt, Jan D., Hong Kong Polytech Univ, Chengdu, Sichuan Provinc, Peoples R
  China.'
author: Leiulfsrud, Annelie Schedin and Ruoranen, Kaisa and Ostermann, Anne and Reinhardt,
  Jan D.
author-email: annelie.leiulfsrud@gmail.com
author_list:
- family: Leiulfsrud
  given: Annelie Schedin
- family: Ruoranen
  given: Kaisa
- family: Ostermann
  given: Anne
- family: Reinhardt
  given: Jan D.
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.3233/WOR-162381
eissn: 1875-9270
files: []
issn: 1051-9815
journal: WORK-A JOURNAL OF PREVENTION ASSESSMENT \& REHABILITATION
keywords: Work; social participation; disability; barriers and facilitators
keywords-plus: 'QUALITY-OF-LIFE; LABOR-MARKET; WORK ABILITY; PEOPLE; PARTICIPATION;

  FACILITATORS; UNEMPLOYMENT; DISABILITIES; BARRIERS; WELFARE'
language: English
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '32'
orcid-numbers: Schedin Leiulfsrud, Annelie/0000-0002-9086-6670
pages: 133-144
papis_id: bd7aa46d833efe9d3aff6d7dd41a2bed
ref: Leiulfsrud2016meaningemployment
times-cited: '22'
title: The meaning of employment from the perspective of persons with spinal cord
  injuries in six European countries
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000386411100013
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '7'
volume: '55'
web-of-science-categories: Public, Environmental \& Occupational Health
year: '2016'