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ISSN 1051-9815 (P)
ISSN 1875-9270 (E)
Impact Factor 2024: 1.7
WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation is an interdisciplinary, international journal which publishes high quality peer-reviewed manuscripts covering the entire scope of the occupation of work. The journal's subtitle has been deliberately laid out: The first goal is the prevention of illness, injury, and disability. When this goal is not achievable, the attention focuses on assessment to design client-centered intervention, rehabilitation, treatment, or controls that use scientific evidence to support best practice.
WORK occasionally publishes thematic issues, but in general, issues cover a wide range of topics such as ergonomic considerations with children, youth and students, the challenges facing an aging workforce, workplace violence, injury management, performing artists, ergonomic product evaluations, and the awareness of the political, cultural, and environmental determinants of health related to work.
Dr. Karen Jacobs, the founding editor, and her editorial board especially encourage the publication of research studies, clinical practice, case study reports, as well as personal narratives and critical reflections of lived work experiences (autoethnographic/autobiographic scholarship),
Sounding Board commentaries and
Speaking of Research articles which provide the foundation for better understanding research to facilitate knowledge dissemination.
Narrative Reflections on Occupational Transitions, a new column, is for persons who have successfully transitioned into, between, or out of occupations to tell their stories in a narrative form. With an internationally renowned editorial board,
WORK maintains high standards in the evaluation and publication of manuscripts. All manuscripts are reviewed expeditiously and published in a timely manner.
WORK prides itself on being an author-friendly journal.
WORK celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015.
*WORK is affiliated with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT)* *WORK is endorsed by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA)* *WORK gives out the yearly Cheryl Bennett Best Paper Award*
Abstract: A survey was implemented to collect demographic data of Occupational Therapy Work Rehabilitation Programs in the Hong Kong Hospital Authority in order to reflect the patterns of services delivery within the largest health care organization in Hong Kong. The questionnaire covered types of settings, services provided, instruments/equipment used, sources and aims of referrals, types of patient, training programs attended by occupational therapists, staffing and research. The results of this survey demonstrated that there has…been a significant development of the Occupational Therapy Work Rehabilitation Programs in Hong Kong Hospital Authority in the last decade. Future directions for further development are also identified.
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Keywords: demography, work rehabilitation, occupational therapy services
Abstract: This study was designed to examine the content validity of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (D.O.T.) as applied to construction site workers in Hong Kong. The study was divided into the First Expert Panel Review, the Second Expert Panel Review and the Field Study. The results indicated that (i) 15 out of the 55 items of the D.O.T. were identified as insignificant job requirements, and 14 items other than those suggested by the D.O.T. were identified…as significant job requirements by the First Expert Panel; (ii) criteria of 20 out of the 40 items of the job requirements as suggested by the D.O.T. were identified as different from the ones suggested by the Second Expert Panel; and (iii) criteria of 4 items were found to be different among the D.O.T., the Second Expert Panel and the Field Study. The results of this study substantiate the claim that the validity of the D.O.T. is questionable, and research on a larger scale should be implemented to further examine the validity of the D.O.T.
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Abstract: Work rehabilitation programs targeting different client groups are available in nearly all major hospital occupational therapy departments in Hong Kong. Clients receiving work rehabilitation are referred from various out-patient clinics and other occupational therapists. Those clients experience limitation in work after their injuries or diseases and plan to return to work after rehabilitation. Program objectives are 1) to assist clients to reach maximum work capacity as rapidly as possible 2) to ensure clients return to…work safely 3) to improve clients' work readiness. This case report describes an individualized work simulation program at a general hospital in Hong Kong provided for a typical client who is preparing to return to his worker role. Specific job analysis, goals and program rationale for the client are discussed.
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Keywords: vocational rehabilitation, job analysis, job capacity evaluation, work hardening
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the newly developed clinical protocol ``Goal Attainment Program'' to assist psychiatric in-patients in Hong Kong to formulate realistic life goals, with a view to shortening their length of stay and motivating them to join in work rehabilitation. The Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients was validated and used to evaluate the change in life goals after attending the four-session Goal Attainment Program. The validated 10-item version of the…Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients (GASPI-10) was found to have good inter-rater reliability (\rho _{I} ranged from 0.64 to 0.88,p < 0.01 ; N = 26 ) and internal consistency (\alpha of rater 1 = 0.92 , rater2 = 0.87 , N = 26 ). Twenty-five chronic psychiatric in-patients of Castle Peak Hospital in Hong Kong completed the Goal Attainment Program and were assessed using a pre and post-test quasi-experimental design. The T-score computation of GASPI-10 indicated that 92% improvement in goal attainment. Some 92% and 72% discharge after completion of the program. The overall results of this study verified the effectiveness of the Goal Attainment Program in instilling hope in chronic patients with schizophrenia and the use of the Goal Attainment Scale in documenting patients' progress.
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Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the school-to-work experience of people with mental handicap in Hong Kong. Fourteen young adults with mild mental handicap participated in in-depth interviews. An interview guide was utilized which included topics related to the participants' vocational preferences, work motivation and post-school placements. Data were analyzed according to a constant comparative method and content analysis. Three-quarters of the participants expressed job preferences. Three-quarters of the participants…had taken a vocational training program unrelated to their job preferences. Half of the participants who had taken up open employment had not obtained their preferred jobs. None of the participants who had completed vocational training obtained job placements that matched their vocational training programs. All of the participants except five were not involved in making independent decisions regarding employment. The need to improve the quality of vocational services and empower people with mental handicap to take up self-determining roles are discussed.
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Abstract: This paper describes the application of a transitional employment program (TEP) for psychiatric patients in Hong Kong. The TEP and its values in psychiatric rehabilitation are introduced. The differences between TEP and Supported Employment (SE) were also highlighted. A TEP for psychiatric patients in an acute general hospital is outlined. Interviews of employer and trainees showed that, apart from increasing income, qualitative changes in the trainees were observed such as increased self-confidence, improved assertive and social…skills, and increased work tolerance. Ongoing objective measurement should be conducted to demonstrate its effectiveness. TEP could be considered as a feasible alternative of vocational rehabilitation for patients with mental illness.
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Abstract: Before the 1960s in Hong Kong, specialized vocational services for people with mental illness were very limited, and sheltered workshop seemed to be the only option for their future vocational placement at that time. As discussed in the literature, there are still many shortcomings of the sheltered workshop model, that brings us to the emergence of another community-based vocational service: Supported Employment. Unlike traditional vocational services, the concept of supported employment emphasizes the placing of the…clients into integrated work environments and then providing on-going support and work-related skills training in the job post. Though supported employment services help many clients to sustain a job in the competitive market, many service barriers and problems still remain unsolved. These service barriers and problems will be discussed in this article, and suggestions will be made.
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Keywords: mental illness, supported employment, service barriers
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to report on the vocational outcomes of individuals with psychiatric disabilities participating in a supported competitive employment (SCE) program. A total of 458 subjects enrolled in the present SCE program which was developed on the basis of the Supported Employment Model developed by Wehman [23] and the principles of the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) developed by Becker and Drake [5]. Of the 458 subjects, 308 (67.3%) 134 days. The…mean salary was $4,740 for full-time jobs and was $2,321 for part-time jobs. The majority of subjects (59.4%) sustain their job placement for more than 30 days, 74 (24.0%) subjects could work for more than six months, and 38 (12.3%) maintain the job for more than one year. Subjects who became employed were compared to those who did not gain employment on a variety of demographic variables. Significant differences were found between two groups in terms of sex and source of referral. The rate of employment in the current study was slightly higher, but the job retention rate was lower than in earlier studies. Recommendations for future research on evaluation of the effectiveness of SCE program are suggested.
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Abstract: The article describes the components and composition of journal articles that report empirical research findings in the field of rehabilitation. The authors delineate technical writing strategies and discuss the contents of research manuscripts, including the Title, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, and References. The article concludes with a scale that practitioners, manuscript reviewers, educators, and students can use in critically analyzing the content and scientific merits of published rehabilitation research.
Keywords: evaluation, research articles, guidelines for critique
