Key demands and characteristics of occupations performed by individuals with spinal cord injury living in Switzerland

Abstract

Study design: Descriptive qualitative and quantitative study using cross-sectional data from the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study (SwiSCI). Objective: To determine the key demands and characteristics of occupations performed by individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Swiss community. Methods: Job titles indicated by SwiSCI participants were linked to occupational titles from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and then frequency-analyzed across sociodemographic and injury-related factors. Subsequently, average O*NET relevance values ranging from 0 to 100 were calculated for the occupations’ demands and characteristics, both in general and stratified by injury-related factors. Results: The 1549 study participants indicated a total of 717 job titles and were primarily employed in administrative and management occupations (22.1% and 16.4%, respectively). The participants’ occupations predominantly required verbal abilities (average relevance [AR] = 68.4) and complex problem solving skills (AR = 55.8) and were characterized by conventional work tasks (AR = 62.9) and social relationships (AR = 58.6). Both the occupations’ frequency distribution as well as the average relevance levels of their demands and characteristics differed by SCI severity. Conclusions: Individuals with SCI perform a broad range of occupations that are mainly characterized by cognitive and communicative demands, while physical demands are of minor importance. By informing the development of job matching profiles for vocational guidance, our study facilitates the determination of well-matching jobs for persons with SCI and may contribute to a more sustainable return to work of the affected persons.