Work disability among women with rheumatoid arthritis. The relative importance of disease, social, work, and family factors

This study uses Yelin's model to explain work disability among 122 women with rheumatoid arthritis and to incorporate family factors into the model, finding that work autonomy, social factors, and disease factors are important predictors of work disability.

Abstract

Yelin and others have shown social work factors to be more important than disease factors in predicting work disability among arthritis patients; however, the effects of family factors on work role functioning have not been considered in previous explanatory models. In this study, we use Yelin's model to explain work disability among 122 women with rheumatoid arthritis and to incorporate family factors into the model. Using logistic regression, we found, as with previous studies, that work autonomy, social factors, and disease factors are important predictors of work disability. In the logistic regression model, self-assessed health status seemed to be more important than work factors in predicting work status. Further, family factors significantly contributed to the explanatory model, in that having more home responsibilities was associated with lower risk of work disability.