The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) provides disability benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. To receive SSDI or SSI disability benefits, an individual must meet the statutory definition of disability, which is "the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity [SGA] by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months." SSA uses a five-step sequential process to determine whether an adult applicant meets this definition. Functional Assessment for Adults with Disabilities examines ways to collect information about an individual's physical and mental (cognitive and noncognitive) functional abilities relevant to work requirements. This report discusses the types of information that support findings of limitations in functional abilities relevant to work requirements, and provides findings and conclusions regarding the collection of information and assessment of functional abilities relevant to work requirements.

Despite many advances, 20 American workers die each day as a result of occupational injuries. And occupational safety and health (OSH) is becoming even more complex as workers move away from the long-term, fixed-site, employer relationship. This book looks at worker safety in the changing workplace and the challenge of ensuring a supply of top-notch OSH professionals. Recommendations are addressed to federal and state agencies, OSH organizations, educational institutions, employers, unions, and other stakeholders. The committee reviews trends in workforce demographics, the nature of work in the information age, globalization of work, and the revolution in health care deliveryâ€"exploring the implications for OSH education and training in the decade ahead. The core professions of OSH (occupational safety, industrial hygiene, and occupational medicine and nursing) and key related roles (employee assistance professional, ergonomist, and occupational health psychologist) are profiled-how many people are in the field, where they work, and what they do. The book reviews in detail the education, training, and education grants available to OSH professionals from public and private sources.

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Mirroring a worldwide phenomenon in industrialized nations, the U.S. is experiencing a change in its demographic structure known as population aging. Concern about the aging population tends to focus on the adequacy of Medicare and Social Security, retirement of older Americans, and the need to identify policies, programs, and strategies that address the health and safety needs of older workers. Older workers differ from their younger counterparts in a variety of physical, psychological, and social factors. Evaluating the extent, causes, and effects of these factors and improving the research and data systems necessary to address the health and safety needs of older workers may significantly impact both their ability to remain in the workforce and their well being in retirement. Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers provides an image of what is currently known about the health and safety needs of older workers and the research needed to encourage social polices that guarantee older workers a meaningful share of the nation's work opportunities.

This comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis focuses on the clinical and occupational intervention processes enabling workers to return to their jobs and sustain employment after injury or serious illness as well as ideas for improving the wide range of outcomes of entry and re-entry into the workplace. Information is accessible along key theoretical, research, and interventive lines, emphasizing a palette of evidence-informed approaches to return to work and stay at work planning and implementation, in the context of disability prevention. Condition-specific chapters detail best return to work and stay at work practices across diverse medical and psychological diagnoses, from musculoskeletal disorders to cancer, from TBI to PTSD. The resulting collection bridges the gap between research evidence and practice and gives readers necessary information from a range of critical perspectives. Among the featured topics: Understanding motivation to return to work: economy of gains and losses. Overcoming barriers to return to work: behavioral and cultural change. Program evaluation in return to work: an integrative framework. Working with stakeholders in return to work processes. Return to work after major limb loss. Improving work outcomes among cancer survivors. Return to work among women with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The Handbook of Return to Work is an invaluable, unique and comprehensive resource for health, rehabilitation, clinical, counselling and industrial psychologists, rehabilitation specialists, occupational and physical therapists, family and primary care physicians, psychiatrists and physical medicine and rehabilitation as well as occupational medicine specialists, case and disability managers and human resource professionals. Academics and researchers across these fields will also find expert guidance and direction in these pages. It is an essential reading for all return to work and stay at work stakeholders.

Chronic back and neck pain. Whiplash. Fibromyalgia. Carpal tunnel syndrome. Intractable headaches. Depression. Anxiety and posttraumatic stress. Concussion. More than ever, the term workplace disabilities is synonymous with greater clinical and case management complexity and escalating personal, social, occupational and economic cost. Complex illnesses and injuries that defy a traditional medical management model continue to baffle medical, mental health, rehabilitation, compensation, corporate, and legal professionals despite new advances in diagnosis, prevention, and rehabilitation. The Handbook of Complex Occupational Disability Claims: Early Risk Identification, Intervention and Prevention cuts through the confusion by integrating current theories and findings into a state-of-the-art tool for critical thinking, decision making, and effective practice. A book that synthesizes so many diverse viewpoints has the potential to influence both policy and practice across disciplines and cut through politicization of these still poorly understood conditions with evidence. The Handbook is important reading for all clinicians, professionals, and members of rehabilitation and disability management teams, across healthcare, occupational and compensation settings.