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Factors affecting sustained employment of people with chronic illness

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
of
Master of Science in Occupational Therapy
Johannesburg, 2015 / Numerous factors influence the employment of people with chronic
illness. At some point, these people withdraw from the labour market. This has both a
direct and indirect cost to the person, their family and society as a whole.
Aim: To explore the factors affecting sustained employment of people with chronic
illness. A second component explored participants’ opinions regarding return to work
in the future.
Research Methods: The study was done in two phases: 1) The identification and
validation of the research instrument; and 2) The administration of the research
instrument. Descriptive statistics were utilised to analyse data obtained from the
research instrument. Two sets of correlations were run to identify significant
differences between the participants expecting to return to work and those who did not
expect to return to work.
Results: Descriptive statistics revealed no meaningful trend on self-reported factors.
The Mann-Whitney U identified a number of significant differences between
participants expecting to return to work and those who did not expect to return to work,
in both personal and contextual factors.
Conclusion: A broad range of factors were elicited regarding the barriers and
accommodations required for sustained employment within both the personal and
environmental constructs. Self-report questionnaires provided some useful
information, but a broader understanding of the factors influencing work was obtained
from a comprehensive interview. Significant differences were present between people
expecting to return to work and those who did not expect to return to work regarding
environmental and personal factors as well as factors supporting work.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/18497
Date January 2015
CreatorsReynolds, Anne Patricia
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatapplication/pdf

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