The purpose of this study was to explore how employees perceive their organisation's efforts to address the management of stress in their workplaces and to examine differences based on demographic variables of organisational location and size. A convenience sample of 85 people at an international disability management conference completed a Management of Stress in the Workplace Questionnaire. Results of this survey indicated that employees were not positive about their organisations efforts to manage stress in either prevention or rehabilitation activities. Employees from smaller organisations rated their workplace environments more positively than larger organisations. A perceived high incidence of stress in an organisation was negatively related to perceptions about the work environment. Lower perceived levels of stress-related compensation claims were associated with higher ratings of prevention and higher workplace environment ratings. Effective disability management programs need to address a range of individual, organisational and system factors that cause and exacerbate stress injuries. In addition to the provision of a range of prevention and rehabilitation services, it is important that organisations look at ways to improve workplace culture and, by association, job satisfaction and workplace morale.

Internalising disability management (DM) processes into an organisation needs careful planning and preparation particularly where the existing practice is to outsource DM services and supports to third-party providers. By using an action research methodology, the implementation process of an early intervention and rehabilitation pilot project in a large North American multisite health provider was tracked and monitored. An action researcher, who was the staff member responsible for line managing the DM pilot, kept an action research journal in which the actions taken, outcomes achieved, issues arising, insight gained and successful responses were regularly recorded over the initial phase of the pilot project. Organisational impact indicators for the pilot project were very positive. A content analysis of the action research journal revealed key components in a successful company DM program, the challenges faced when introducing a new program where pre-existing programs and policies exist, challenges arising from project implementation and mechanisms and strategies that worked well. The action research approach provided a useful insight into the day-to-day issues to be addressed when internalising DM into a large multisite organisation.

For many years Sweden has experienced high rates of sickness absence among employees. Sickness absence is often regarded as an indicator of health in a population, with low rates of absence associated with good health and high degrees of absence associated with poor health. The aim of this article is to examine this hypothesis — that the high rates of sickness absence in Sweden is an indicator of poor health. Sickness absence and health data was obtained from official government statistics in order to compare Sweden with six other European countries and a number of health-related variables. The hypothesis was not supported by the results of this study. While Sweden has a high rate of sickness absence, it ranks highly on a range of health variables when compared to other European countries. Instead, sickness absence may be more strongly associated with rates of unemployment. In times of high unemployment, sickness absence is low, and in times low unemployment, sickness absence is high. While public health programs are essential components of primary health care initiatives, the evidence from this study indicates that they are unlikely to have significant impact on sickness absence in Sweden. Instead more effort should be made to intervene early following sickness absence through providing timely vocational rehabilitation and disability management programs.

It is 20 years since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, yet employment and economic inequities continue for people with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to inform and encourage disability management leading practices to contribute toward reducing these disparities. The approach is an examination of where in the employment process applicants and incumbent employees perceive employment disability discrimination, leading to the filing of charges against an employer. Employment disability discrimination claims filed by individuals over 15 years (1993–2007) with the United States (US) Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or state and local Fair Employment Practice Agencies are studied. The authors analyse employment discrimination charges by year, basis (i.e., protected class characteristics, such as disability, age, or race), issue (i.e., actions of the employer, such as discharge, hiring, or harassment), employer characteristics (i.e, size of business and industry sector), and joint filings under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (gender, race/ethnicity, and religious discrimination) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Special attention is paid to where in the employment process people with specific impairments are perceiving discrimination. Implications of these research findings for the practice and administration of disability management and employer policies are discussed.

Aim: This exploratory study examined the relationships among different types of social support accessed by patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Method: Using a cross-sectional study design, 20 SCI patients of workforce age discharged from the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Hospital, Melbourne, Australia during 2007 were assessed on a range of demographic, injury and social support variables. Results: Higher quality interactions (i.e., actual social support) were significantly associated with greater social integration (i.e., structural social support) and higher perceived social support. However, community integration and social integration, which measure different aspects of structural social support, were essentially unrelated. Conclusions: Actual social support influences perceived social support and social integration. Theoretically, these results suggest that actual social support influences the two main opposing models that explain the relationship between social support and wellbeing: the stress-buffering model (for perceived social support) and the main-effects model (for structural social support). From a research perspective, the use of well-defined types of social support, and psychometrically sound measures, is critical for assessing the influence of social support on rehabilitation outcomes. To effectively match rehabilitation efforts with SCI survivors' needs, future research should examine which types of social support best predict particular rehabilitation outcomes.

Demographic changes are transforming Germany's working environment. A shrinking and aging workforce is having to cope with rising market requirements for skilled labour. As the risk of occupational disability rises with age, lawmakers have introduced a number of legislative changes to sustain workers' ability to work as long as possible. Another important step in this direction was the introduction of a training program to become a Certified Disability Management Professional (CDMP), based on the Canadian model and driven by the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV). International scientific research has long recognised the importance of professional counselling and support for successful vocational rehabilitation of sick and disabled people. In Germany, however, there has been a lack of studies investigating which competencies disability managers need for their work or whether their training is adequate. The present study fills this gap. 217 disability managers and other vocational rehabilitation professionals were asked about their tasks and the competencies required for their work. Two important areas of responsibility were identified: work with the client, on the one hand, and organisational and managerial tasks on the other. This represents a lower degree of specialisation than that found in related American or Australian studies. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed.