Worker Functional Abilities, Occupational Requirements, and Job Accommodations: A Close Look at Three Occupations

Megan Henly, Debra L. Brucker and Andrew J. Houtenville
Additional contact information
Megan Henly: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability
Debra L. Brucker: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability
Andrew J. Houtenville: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability

Working Papers from University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center

Abstract: This report examines the occupational requirements, physical and mental functioning, and use of accommodations among workers in three key occupations: cashiers, receptionists, and those in nursing fields. These jobs are among the top occupations represented in the work histories of federal disability claimants in the United States (U.S.). We collected survey data from 802 people working in these occupations. The survey collected demographic information, work-related characteristics (including the use of workplace accommodations), and functional assessment information using the self-reported functional assessment using the Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB). The WD-FAB generates eight scores per respondent, one for each of eight dimensions related to physical function (basic mobility, fine motor function, upper body function, and community mobility) and mental function (resilience and sociability, mood and emotions, self-regulation, and cognition and communication). Results indicated that accommodation use is associated with lower functioning in this population of employed or recently employed adults. In addition, for each occupation, we compared the WD-FAB scores to data from the Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) using measures that align with these WD-FAB domains. This comparison demonstrates the extent to which functioning in these dimensions is necessary and suggests opportunities for task-specific, occupation-specific accommodations. We discuss implications for disability determination according to SSA guidelines.

Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2021-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://mrdrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/papers/pdf/wp430.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mrr:papers:wp430

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center P.O. Box 1248, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MRRC Administrator ().