The impact of psychosocial 'markers' on the outcome of rehabilitation

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify substantial psychosocial eve nts-'psychosocial markers' (PMs) in the clients files and to correlate the PMs to the outcome of the rehabilitation, in order to find out whether this information had any impact on the outcome of vocational rehabilitation (VR ). Method: Three-hundred and seventy-two individuals were included, being an o bject of a VR measure during 1993-1994. All were impaired by either disc he rnia back pain syndrome or other diseases of the loco-motor system. The PM was defined as any psychosocial loaded information of the person's life sit uation, not immediately related to the original set of medical problems. Results: Twenty-seven PMs were identified among men and 36 for women. Alcoh ol related problems dominated for men and private life related problems for women. Only approximately 25% of the PM concerned work related matters. Af ter 3 years the OR (odds ratio) for full disability pension was 2.6 (n.s.) for men with the PM and 4.3 (p < 0.05) for women. The outcome was independe nt of background factors such as unemployment, blue-collar work and low edu cation. Conclusions: The PM was found to be an important and independent factor to impact the outcome of rehabilitation in women.