Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T01:12:56.617Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Compensable Injury and Quality of Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2015

James A. Athanasou
James A. Athanasou*
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
*
Address for correspondence: James Athanasou, Discipline of Rehabilitation Counselling, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, 75 East Street, Lidcombe NSW 2141, Australia. E-mail: james.athanasou@sydney.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

This study examined the quality of life of compensable accident victims. The sample comprised 254 participants who completed the World Health Organization's EUROHIS Quality of Life scale as part of a vocational assessment. As hypothesised, there was substantially lower quality of life with a mean rating of 2.70 (SD = 0.74) on a five-point scale from very dissatisfied to very satisfied. There were statistically significant differences in quality of life, favouring those living in a rural vs city location, those living in areas of low unemployment and those with higher skill levels. Those who had a non-work accident had higher levels of quality of life as did those without a spinal cord injury or psychiatric sequelae. Participants who returned to work had the highest level of quality of life. The time since the personal injury averaged 3.58 years (SD = 3.61) and quality of life was not correlated positively with the effluxion of time (r = 0.057). A tentative process model of quality of life was proposed based on the significant factors from this study and divided the factors into three stages based on their occurrence across time as early, intermediate or late in relation to the injury.

Keywords

quality of lifecompensable injuryEUROHIS-Quality of Life Scalepsychosocial adjustment
Type
Articles
Information
The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , July 2015 , pp. 18 - 28
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Athanasou, J.A., & Kaufmann, E. (2010). Analysing the expert judgement of a rehabilitation counsellor: A case study. Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling, 16(2), 73–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Athanasou, J.A. (2011). Rehabilitation judgments with incomplete information: A case study. Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling, 17(2), 89–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008). Disability, Ageing & Carers, Catalogue No. 4430.0. Canberra: Author.Google Scholar
Bishop, M., Miller, S., & Chapin, M.H. (2008). Quality of life assessment in the measurement of rehabilitation outcome. Journal of Rehabilitation, 74, 45–55.Google Scholar
Cornes, P. (1990). The Vocational Rehabilitation Index: a guide to accident victims' requirements for return-to-work assistance. International Disability Studies, 12(1), 32–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornes, P., & Roy, C.W. (1991). Vocational Rehabilitation Index assessment of rehabilitation medicine service patients. International Disability Studies, 13(1), 5–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Da Rocha, N.S., Power, M.J., Bushnell, D.M., & Fleck, M.P. (2012). The EUROHIS-QOL-8-Item Index: Comparative psychometric properties to its parent WHOQOL-BREF. Value in Health, 15, 449–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dijkers, M.P.J.M. (2005). Quality of life of individuals with spinal cord injury. A review of conceptualization, measurement and research findings. Journal of Rehabilitation, Research and Development, 42, 87–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dyster-Aas, J., Kildal, M., & Willebrand, M. (2007). Return to work and health-related quality of life after burn injury. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 39, 49–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Esbjornsson, E., Skoglund, T., & Sunnerhagen, K.S. (2013). Fatigue: Psychosocial adaptation and quality of life one year after traumatic brain injury and suspected axonal injury: Evaluations of patients and relatives: A pilot study. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 45, 771–777.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G* Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawthorne, G., Gruen, R.L., & Kaye, A.H. (2009). Traumatic brain injury and long-term quality of life: Findings from an Australian study. Journal of Neurotrauma, 26, 1623–1633.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holtslag, H.R., van Beeck, E.F., Lindeman, E., & Leenen, L.P.H. (2007). Determinants of long-term functional consequences after major trauma. The Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection and Critical Care, 62, 919–927.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hopkins, R.O., Weaver, L.K., Collingridge, D., Parkinson, R.B., Chan, K.J., & Orme, J.F. (2005). Two-year cognitive, emotional and quality-of-life outcomes in acute respiratory distress syndrome. American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, 171, 340–347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lezak, M.D. (1995). Neuropsychological Assessment (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lucas, R.E. (2007). Adaptation and the set-point model of subjective well-being. Does happiness change after major life events? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 75–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Motor Accidents Authority of NSW (2013). Motor Accidents Authority of NSW Annual Report 2012–13. Sydney: Author.Google Scholar
Post, R.B., Van Der Sluis, C.K., & Ten Duis, H.J. (2006). Return to work and quality of life in severely injured patients. Disability and Rehabilitation, 28(22), 1399–1404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmidt, S., Muhlan, H., & Power, M. (2005). The EUROHIS-QOL-8-item index: psychometric results of a cross-cultural field study. European Journal of Public Health, 16, 420–428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Workcover (2010). Statistical Bulletin 2008/09. New South Wales Workers Compensation. Sydney: Author.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1997). WHOQOL – Measuring Quality of Life. Geneva: Author.Google Scholar
Wright, B.A. (1960). Physical Disability: A Psychological Approach. New York: Harper & Row.CrossRefGoogle Scholar