Perceived job quality among persons with spinal cord injury: The contribution of sociodemographic characteristics, health-related factors, and person-job match.

Context/objective: Perceived job quality is a key indicator of sustainable work among persons with spinal cord injuries (PwSCI). This study aimed at (a) describing three indicators of perceived job quality (i.e. job satisfaction, job performance, and work stress) among working PwSCI, and (b) identifying whether and how different person-job match dimensions (i.e. interest congruence, demands-abilities fit, needs-supplies fit, and effort-reward imbalance) as well as sociodemographic and health-related factors (e.g. age, sex, SCI-related characteristics, pain problems, and depressive symptoms) are associated with perceived job quality.

Design: Cross-sectional, self-report survey.

Setting: Community.

Participants: 549 working-age PwSCI who participated in the 2017 community survey of the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort study and reported being engaged in paid work.

Outcome measures: Job satisfaction, job performance, and work stress.

Results: Higher interest congruence, better needs-supplies fit and lower effort-reward imbalance, as well as female sex, were associated with higher job satisfaction, while higher effort-reward imbalance, poorer demands-abilities fit (underqualification), and - surprisingly - better needs-supplies fit were associated with higher work stress. Moreover, underqualification, worse needs-supplies fit as well as pain, depressive symptoms, and language region were associated with lower job performance.

Conclusion: Integrating individuals in jobs that match their abilities, interests and needs, and which adequately reward their efforts may contribute to better job quality among PwSCI. Beyond that, common secondary health conditions and comorbidities such as pain and depressive symptoms should receive particular attention in interventions that aim to promote job quality and ultimately sustainable work in the SCI population.