{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T05:55:07Z","timestamp":1781502907927,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781481600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Rehabil. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a health condition that severely affects functioning, quality of life, social participation, and employment outcomes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This cross-sectional observational study analyzed data from 167 participants with SCI who lived in the United States and participated in the most recent International Spinal Cord Injury Survey (InSCI); it aimed to examine sociodemographic, injury, and support-related predictors of employment and to investigate the perceived barriers to work. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were applied.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Overall, 67.7% of the participants were employed; those aged 30\u201339, had more years of education, and living with a partner showed higher odds of employment. Significant lower odds of employment were observed in those who had a shorter time since injury and were recipients of disability benefits. The most common barriers for the unemployed individuals were insufficient transportation services (82.5%), fear of losing benefits (33.8%) and inaccessible workplaces (11.3%).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our findings suggest that employment after SCI is determined from individual characteristics and systemic barriers. The results highlight the importance of education, vocational rehabilitation, accessibility facilitators, and disability benefit policy-related reforms that promote equitable workforce participation, inclusion, and functioning in SCI.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fresc.2026.1737005","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T05:33:40Z","timestamp":1781501620000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Employment after spinal cord injury in the United States: predictors and barriers"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Georgios","family":"Theotokatos","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health and Care Sciences, University of West Attica","place":["Athens, 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