The employer's perspective: employment of people with disabilities in wage subsidized employments

The aim of this article is to examine employers' perspectives of the conditions of employment of people with disabilities within a context of wage subsidies. Employers in different workplaces were interviewed, and the interviews were analysed according to qualitative content analysis (Graneheim and Lundman 2004). The results show that four factors – attitude, matching, economic incentives and accommodations – are important for the employment of people with disabilities within a context of wage subsidies. Positive earlier experiences of people with disabilities serve as one of the reasons employers are willing to consider people with disabilities for jobs, but for hiring to take place, there must also be a match between the right person and the right job. Wage subsidies are seen, within this context, as an incentive to hire people who have reduced work capacity; accommodations are seen as necessary for the successful implementation of such hiring decisions. This knowledge can be applied in the design of support measures for unemployed people with disabilities

Handbook of Active Ageing and Quality of Life: From Concepts to Applications

La edición de este libro estuvo a cargo de Fermina Rojo-Pérez y Gloria Fernández-Mayoralas.El documento adjunto contiene la cubierta, portada e índice del libro.This handbook presents an overview of studies on the relationship of active ageing and quality of life. It addresses the new challenges of ageing from the paradigm of positive ageing (active, healthy and successful) for a better quality of life. It provides theoretical perspectives and empirical studies, including scientific knowledge as well as practical experiences about the good ageing and the quality of later life around the world, in order to respond to the challenges of an aged population. The handbook is structured in 4 sections covering theoretical and conceptual perspectives, social policy issues and research agenda, methods, measurement instrument-scales and evaluations, and lastly application studies including domains and geographical contexts.Peer reviewe

Medicalized Unemployment? : Swedish Labour Market Policy and its Practice 1978-2004

The 1990s were a period of economic crisis and mass unemployment. The dissertation shows that in the labour market policy guidelines in the period 1978–2004, a dichotomy was constructed between, on the one hand, a group of unemployed described in positive terms as potentially able to gain new employment, and, on the other hand, a group – referred to in the dissertation as the Others – whose exclusion and marginalisation were seen as permanent. Unemployment has not always been defined as a social problem. The nature of the problem of unemployment has been understood and conceptu­alised differently over time. Frames of interpretation contribute to the construction and/or reproduction of categories of unemployed within the context of active Swedish labour market policies. The point of departure for the study is that the definition of social problems is a complex process of social construction. It is an active process of re(construction), in which certain problems become perceived as social problems while others are not. The flexibilisation of the labour market, and of labour market policy, is an institutional and discursive process that leads to new categorisations and otherings on the labour market. In the wake of the 1990s crisis, and of the more structural transformation of the Swedish labour market, a group of long-term unemployed has emerged. In the official guidelines of the labour market policy, the recommendations are to treat this group within the framework of the measures and activities that earlier applied to groups with disabilities. In this process, the structural labour market problem becomes defined politically in terms of individual disabilities. This is not only a process of individualisation, but also a process of medicalization. In this manner, unemployment, and particularly long-term unemployment, becomes analogous to disability

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis under Disease-Modifying Therapies: A Multi-Centre Study

Background: The EMCOVID project conducted a multi-centre cohort study to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on patients with Multiple Sclerosis (pwMS) receiving disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). The study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in MS patients enrolled in the EMCOVID database. The DMTs were used to manage MS by reducing relapses, lesion accumulation, and disability progression. However, concerns arose regarding the susceptibility of pwMS to COVID-19 due to potential interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and the immune system, as well as the immunomodulatory effects of DMTs. Methods: This prospective observational study utilized data from a Multiple Sclerosis and COVID-19 (EMCOVID-19) study. Demographic characteristics, MS history, laboratory data, SARS-CoV-2 serology, and symptoms of COVID-19 were extracted for pwMS receiving any type of DMT. The relationship between demographics, MS phenotype, DMTs, and COVID-19 was evaluated. The evolution of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies over a 6-month period was also assessed. Results: The study included 709 pwMS, with 376 patients providing samples at the 6-month follow-up visit. The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was higher among pwMS than the general population, with Interferon treatment being significantly associated with greater seroprevalence (16.9% vs. 8.4%; p 0.003). However, no other specific DMT showed a significant association with antibody presence. A total of 32 patients (8.5%) tested positive for IgG, IgM, or IgA antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 at baseline, but then tested negative at 6 months. Most of the pwMS in the cohort were asymptomatic for COVID-19 and, even among symptomatic cases, the prognosis was generally favourable. Conclusion: pwMS undergoing DMTs exhibited a higher seroprevalence of COVID-19 than the general population. Interferon treatment was associated with a higher seroprevalence, suggesting a more robust humoral response. This study provides valuable insights into the seroprevalence and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in pwMS and contributes to our understanding of the impact of COVID-19 amongst this population

Timing of nasogastric tube insertion and the risk of postoperative pneumonia: an international, prospective cohort study

Aim: Aspiration is a common cause of pneumonia in patients with postoperative ileus. Insertion of a nasogastric tube (NGT) is often performed, but this can be distressing. The aim of this study was to determine whether the timing of NGT insertion after surgery (before versus after vomiting) was associated with reduced rates of pneumonia in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. Method: This was a preplanned secondary analysis of a multicentre, prospective cohort study. Patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery between January 2018 and April 2018 were eligible. Those receiving a NGT were divided into three groups, based on the timing of the insertion: routine NGT (inserted at the time of surgery), prophylactic NGT (inserted after surgery but before vomiting) and reactive NGT (inserted after surgery and after vomiting). The primary outcome was the development of pneumonia within 30 days of surgery, which was compared between the prophylactic and reactive NGT groups using multivariable regression analysis. Results: A total of 4715 patients were included in the analysis and 1536 (32.6%) received a NGT. These were classified as routine in 926 (60.3%), reactive in 461 (30.0%) and prophylactic in 149 (9.7%). Two hundred patients (4.2%) developed pneumonia (no NGT 2.7%; routine NGT 5.2%; reactive NGT 10.6%; prophylactic NGT 11.4%). After adjustment for confounding factors, no significant difference in pneumonia rates was detected between the prophylactic and reactive NGT groups (odds ratio 1.03, 95% CI 0.56\u20131.87, P = 0.932). Conclusion: In patients who required the insertion of a NGT after surgery, prophylactic insertion was not associated with fewer cases of pneumonia within 30 days of surgery compared with reactive insertion