摘要：We examined how perceived need for workplace accommodation affects labor-force participation in people with disabilities. We analyzed a Canadian survey with structural equation modeling to test a model incorporating activity limitations and perceived need for workplace accommodations. The results suggested that the effect of upper- and lower-body activity limitation on labor-force participation was mediated by perceived need for workplace accommodations. Thus, the provision of adequate workplace accommodations could enhance labor-force participation in people with disabilities. Research suggests that work-related disabilities often reflect a mismatch between an individual’s capacities and the physical or mental demands of the job. 1– 3 Yet, little is known about how people with disabilities perceive workplace accommodations in relation to their labor-force participation. The role of workplace accommodation in affecting the employment of people with disabilities (activity limitation) can be conceptualized in terms of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, 4 in which self-perceived need for workplace accommodation is hypothesized to have a mediating role between activity limitation (the difficulties an individual may have in performing a task or an action) and restriction in employment. The objective of our study was to examine this hypothesis in the Canadian working-age population. Figure 1 ▶ shows our conceptual model and specifies the relations among physical activity limitation, labor-force participation, perceived need for workplace accommodation, and sociodemographic factors. Open in a separate window FIGURE 1— Conceptual model illustrating the relations among activity limitation, perceived need for workplace accommodation, and labor-force participation. Note. Numbers are path coefficients; all path coefficients shown are statistically significant ( P < .01). Dotted lines represent nonsignificant paths. Education and occupation were coded from low to high. The presented model was based on people with valid occupation codes only; the model with a full sample size that excluded the occupation variable yielded similar results for the other variables.
