Linking hope factors, barriers to employment and health outcomes for individuals living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Employment and hope have been correlated with improved health outcomes in individuals with disabilities. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship among barriers to employment and hope theory factors and whether those factors mediate between barriers to employment and health outcomes in individuals living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). METHODS:The sample from this study consisted of 1,702 participants who completed the National Working Positive Vocational Development and Employment Needs Survey NWPC-VDENS and identified as unemployed. A structural equation model was used to assess relationship among functioning level, past adversity, vocational goal setting, pathway thinking, agentic thinking, mental health, general health perception, and T-Cell counts. RESULTS: Overall, the fit of the final structural equation model was good (RMSEA = 0.055, TLI = 0.924, CFI = 0.945). In this model, all the paths were significant below 0.001 of p-value except the path from agency to T-cell count, which was also significant below 0.05 of p-value. CONCLUSIONS: Goal setting showed high direct effect on agentic thinking and pathway thinking. Functioning level and past adversity impacted pathway thinking and goal setting while outcomes of hope factors to health variables were significantly positive as hypothesized.

Employment effects for people with disabilities after participation in vocational training programmes: A cohort analysis using propensity score matching

“…Eligibility for VR is connected to the definition of disability found in Section 2 [1] of Book IX of the German Social Code: "[...] a person has a disability if they have a physical, psychological, intellectual or sensory impairment that, in interaction with attitudinal and environmental barriers, is highly likely to impair their equal participation in society for longer than six months. A person has an impairment if their physical and health condition falls short of that typical for their age.…”

“…Besides the positive (economic and health-related) effects of employment for people with disabilities, like e.g. social security contributions, feelings of belonging and societal purpose [1,2], there is additional evidence for organisations that hiring people with disabilities can have positive effects on, e.g. firm profitability, work culture and competitiveness [3].…”

Associations of internalized and anticipated HIV stigma with returning to work for persons living with HIV

“…Employment has been shown to be a major social determinant of health, particularly important for the financial and mental well-being of PLWH [ 5 ]. Results of a previous study suggest that those who are unemployed experience poorer psychological health in comparison to those working [ 6 ]. Loss of income associated with unemployment can negatively influence a person’s access to health care [ 7 ].…”