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Mucoepidermoid carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in salivary glands and is usually associated with mastermind-like transcriptional coactivator 2 (MAML2) rearrangement. Primary nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma is extremely rare, and MAML2 status was reported in only two studies. Herein, we present a 70-year-old male patient with incidentally found nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma. MAML2 translocation was detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization test. Additionally, we conducted a comprehensive literature review and summarized the clinicopathological features of this rare condition. Nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma shows a similar mean age at diagnosis and gender ratio to those of mucoepidermoid carcinoma in salivary glands. More than half of the patients exhibit high histologic grade at the time of diagnosis. As MAML2 status is unreported in almost all published cases, further studies are needed to explore the incidence and prognostic value of MAML2 rearrangement in nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma.

Background: Workplace inclusion contributes to job satisfaction and innovation. Integrating people with disabilities (PWDs) improves productivity, morale, creativity, problem-solving, and commitment. Previous evidence revealed that employers are ambivalent about integrating PWDs. There remains a paucity of literature that examines demand-side employment practices of integrating PWDs in the workplace. Objective: The present study comprehensively reviewed the demand-side employment literature to identify existing practices used to improve the integrating PWDs in the workplace. Methods: A scoping review was employed. Articles were retrieved from PsycInfo, Academic Search, Web-science, American Business Index, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global and published in English from January 1985 to August 2017. Findings: The scoping review yielded 19 articles. Three themes were identified as common and effective employer practices, including (a) policy and allegation, (b) internal and external partnerships, and (c) organizational top-down management diversity support. Conclusion: The findings of this scoping review provide collective information for integrating PWDs in the workplace. Findings shed some light on employer and rehabilitation counselors to engage and assist employers in promoting an inclusive workplace climate.

Background: To improve employment outcome, systematic research that is based on demandside needs is needed to clarify how employer practice factors can affect customized training efforts. Objective: The purpose of this study is to report the results of a scoping review to identify the best employer practices that are used to improve customized training efforts and results for people with disabilities in the workplace. Method: A scoping review of demand-side employment literature was conducted. Five databases were searched for articles published between 1985 and 2017. After filtering articles based on the search criteria, the final number of articles included in the analysis was 27. Findings: We identified three key themes related to customized training efforts. These include: (a) employment support, (b) work values, and (c) employment temperature. Conclusion: The findings of this scoping review provide valuable information for disability employment professionals and rehabilitation counselors to engage and assist employers in relation to customized training efforts.

A college education can help pave the way for a meaningful and rewarding career. However, college students with disabilities, especially students from ethnic and minority backgrounds, face many challenges as they transition from high school to college. Research has demonstrated the importance of social support from family members, friends, and significant others on college life adjustment of minority students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to validate the "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support" (MSPSS) for use with African American college students with disabilities. The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with 220 African American college students with disabilities. The results indicated that the three-factor measurement structure of the MSPSS fits the data relatively well: : X[superscript 2](51, N = 202) = 151.59, p < 0.001; X[superscript 2]/df = 2.97 (< 3), CFI = 0.96 (> 0.95), TLI = 0.95 (>= 0.95), RMSEA = 0.099 (> 0.080), and SRMR = 0.04 (< 0.08). The three factors include perceived social support from (a) family, (b) friends, and (c) significant others. The results of the correlational analysis found significant relationships among these subscales as well as related constructs including goal persistence and college adjustment problems in expected directions providing initial support for the construct validity of the MSPSS. Assessing the levels of perceived social support received by African American students with disabilities can provide valuable information for disability service personnel to tailor their services to help these students develop social skills, social support, and social capital that are critical to college life adjustment and goal persistence.

Abstract Background Social behaviors such as altruism, where one self-sacrifices for collective benefits, critically influence an organism’s survival and responses to the environment. Such behaviors are widely exemplified in nature but have been underexplored in cancer cells which are conventionally seen as selfish competitive players. This multidisciplinary study explores altruism and its mechanism in breast cancer cells and its contribution to chemoresistance. Methods MicroRNA profiling was performed on circulating tumor cells collected from the blood of treated breast cancer patients. Cancer cell lines ectopically expressing candidate miRNA were used in co-culture experiments and treated with docetaxel. Ecological parameters like relative survival and relative fitness were assessed using flow cytometry. Functional studies and characterization performed in vitro and in vivo include proliferation, iTRAQ-mass spectrometry, RNA sequencing, inhibition by small molecules and antibodies, siRNA knockdown, CRISPR/dCas9 inhibition and fluorescence imaging of promoter reporter-expressing cells. Mathematical modeling based on evolutionary game theory was performed to simulate spatial organization of cancer cells. Results Opposing cancer processes underlie altruism: an oncogenic process involving secretion of IGFBP2 and CCL28 by the altruists to induce survival benefits in neighboring cells under taxane exposure, and a self-sacrificial tumor suppressive process impeding proliferation of altruists via cell cycle arrest. Both processes are regulated concurrently in the altruists by miR-125b, via differential NF-κB signaling specifically through IKKβ. Altruistic cells persist in the tumor despite their self-sacrifice, as they can regenerate epigenetically from non-altruists via a KLF2/PCAF-mediated mechanism. The altruists maintain a sparse spatial organization by inhibiting surrounding cells from adopting the altruistic fate via a lateral inhibition mechanism involving a GAB1-PI3K-AKT-miR-125b signaling circuit. Conclusions Our data reveal molecular mechanisms underlying manifestation, persistence and spatial spread of cancer cell altruism. A minor population behave altruistically at a cost to itself producing a collective benefit for the tumor, suggesting tumors to be dynamic social systems governed by the same rules of cooperation in social organisms. Understanding cancer cell altruism may lead to more holistic models of tumor evolution and drug response, as well as therapeutic paradigms that account for social interactions. Cancer cells constitute tractable experimental models for fields beyond oncology, like evolutionary ecology and game theory.

Transition from regimented military life to a less structured college life can pose considerable challenges for student veterans. However, student veterans may be reluctant to seek psychological help because of the help-seeking stigma in the military culture. The present study investigated the measurement structure, reliability, and validity of the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale in a sample of student veterans in the United States. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor measurement structure: (a) feeling of inadequacy, and (b) threat to self-confidence with relevant internal consistency reliability and construct validity. In the present study, feeling of inadequacy was found to be associated with interpersonal relationship problems, alcohol, and drug use problems, and depression, while threat to self-confidence was found to be associated with alcohol and drug use problems only. Implications for outreach services and the use of positive psychology interventions to lessen the stigma associated with seeking help are discussed.

Background: Research evidence supports the assertion that healthy employees are happier and more productive. Employers prefer to hire healthy workers to reduce absenteeism. Rehabilitation counselors have started to explore health promotion interventions to help individuals with chronic health conditions and disability improve their physical and mental health as a strategy to increase their employment opportunities. Purpose: The present study evaluated a self-determination theory (SDT) model of physical activity and exercise in a sample of 218 individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain using structural equation modeling. Results: The SDT model fit the data well, accounting for 54% of the variance in physical activity and exercise. Relatedness was significantly associated with autonomous motivation for physical activity and exercise. Autonomous motivation was associated with competency. Competency was associated with physical activity and exercise. Autonomous motivation and competency mediated relatedness and physical activity and exercise. Implications: This study contributes to an emerging body of theory-informed health promotion literature and identifies the specific pathways that will increase the motivation to engage in physical activity and exercise. Findings can be used to design and validate theory-driven health promotion interventions as an employment strategy for people with chronic musculoskeletal pain receiving vocational rehabilitation services.

Purpose: We explored the relationships between positive human traits and positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement (PERMA) the core elements for Seligman's model of happiness and well-being. Method: Two hundred and five student veterans (147 males and 58 females; 80 with service-related disability) were recruited from several colleges and universities across the United States. Participants completed positive human traits measures on resilience, hope, optimism, attachment, and coping, along with the "PERMA Profiler" that measures the five core elements of the well-being theory. Correlational techniques and canonical correlation analysis were computed to examine the canonical relationship between positive human traits and PERMA variables. Results: Overall, the positive human traits set accounted for 37% of the variance in the PERMA set, whereas the PERMA set accounted for 51% of the variance in the positive human traits set. Conclusions: The research findings suggest that human traits can be conceptualized as building blocks for PERMA, and PERMA are the core elements for happiness and well-being. Importantly, student veterans with disabilities had significantly lower resilience, secure attachment and PERMA scores. Positive psychology interventions to help student veterans, especially students with service-related disabilities, develop character strengths, and PERMA could improve college life adjustment and goal persistence of student veterans.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the measurement structure of a simplified version of the "Multiple Sclerosis Self-Management Scale" (MSSMS) in a sample of 256 individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: Exploratory factor analysis was utilized to uncover meaningful and interpretable factors. Results: The study yielded three factors as both meaningful and interpretable (medication compliance, MS knowledge, and health maintenance behavior). These factors are reliable and correlated with functional disability and community participation in the theoretically expected directions. Conclusion: Results show the MSSMS to be a promising rehabilitation assessment tool for individuals with MS and rehabilitation counselors to evaluate self-management support needs in the interview, assessment, and rehabilitation planning protocols.

Purpose: Evidence shows that region of country is a critical factor in understanding diabetes-related health disparities. The purpose of this study was to examine whether geographic location (southern states vs. other states) attenuate or strengthen the relationship between state diabetes rates and (a) race/ethnicity, (b) income, and (c) percentage of physical inactivity. Method: The state-level data was extracted from multiple public websites. Descriptive statistics and moderation analyses were conducted to test research questions. Results: Results revealed that the magnitudes of relationship between state diabetes rate and (a) income and (b) percentage of Black/African American were affected by geographic location (southern states vs other states). Conclusions: Given Southern states have substantial health disparities compared to non-Southern states, key stakeholders and the public health system should emphasize the importance of developing and evaluating effective public health policies based on income, physical activity, and race/ethnicity.

Background: Enhancing career self-efficacy and social cognitive career theory factors will improve goal persistence and job place of African American college students with disabilities. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the "Career Self-Efficacy Scale" (CSES) in a sample of African American college students with disabilities. Method: Participants were recruited from a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in a Southern state. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to investigate the measurement structure of the CSES. Results/Findings: Three-factor solution accounted for 66.85% of the total variance. The three CSES factors were labeled as (a) job performance efficacy, (b) job seeking efficacy, and (c) emotional efficacy. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for these three factors were high ranging from 0.82 to 0.91. Career self-efficacy was positively and significantly associated with career outcome expectations and goal persistence. These findings provide support for the construct validity of the CSES. Conclusion: The CSES is a psychometrically sound instrument that can be used to assess career self-efficacy, an important construct of the Social Cognitive Career Theory, to help African American college students with disabilities to persist in college and find gainful employment.

Social support is a significant protective factor for health and well-being of people with chronic health conditions and disabilities. It is important to include a psychometrically sound measure of social support in their clinical assessment practices, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to validate the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Social Support Scale in a sample of people with chronic health conditions and disabilities. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to examine and validate the three-factor measurement structure of the PROMIS Social Support Scale. Exploratory factor analysis and CFA results confirmed that a three-factor measurement structure (instrumental, informational, and emotional support) accounted for 82.75% of the total variance. All items loaded highly onto their respective factors (ranging from.73 to.99). Reliability coefficients of the three subscales ranged from.95 to.97. The three social support factors were positively associated with community participation and subjective well-being in the theoretically expected directions. Findings of this study provide strong empirical support for the psychometric properties of the PROMIS Social Support Scale and its use with people with chronic health conditions and disabilities in clinical practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) often have to cope with high levels of stress. Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) stress–appraisal–coping theory emphasizes the relationship between the individual and the environment, suggesting that a stress response is highly influenced by individual appraisal processes. This study aimed to evaluate constructs of Lazarus and Folkman's stress–appraisal–coping theory and positive human traits as predictors of perceived stress in a sample of 477 adults with MS. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine the incremental variance in perceived stress accounted for by demographic covariates, functional disabilities, challenge appraisal, and positive human traits. Core self-evaluations, challenge appraisal, limitations in social/cognitive functioning, agency hope, and age were significant predictors in the final model, accounting for 68% of the variance in perceived stress scores (R 2 =.68, f 2 = 2.13; large effect size). Core self-evaluations and challenge appraisal were the strongest predictors of perceived stress. The findings from this study will help rehabilitation professionals develop empirically supported stress management and well-being interventions, enabling people with MS to cope effectively with stressors and challenges and improve their health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent growth in the number of college students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), there is a disparity in participation for students from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds with disabilities. This issue has received little attention in the research literature. We sought to gain a better understanding of the experiences of minority students with disabilities in their pursuits of a degree and career in STEM and their experiences with a program designed to support the accomplishment of this goal--the Minority-Disability Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (MIND Alliance). We used the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) approach to address the research questions with six former or current STEM students who received MIND Alliance services and supports. Results provide insights into the experiences of STEM students from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds with disabilities, and the influence of the MIND Alliance program on their academic success. Findings emphasize the importance of social supports from peers, family, and the university, as well as the proper handling of accommodations. Participants were generally satisfied with MIND Alliance services and reported positive influences on academic and career goals and on social aspects of college success.

The purpose of this study was to draw from self-determination and self-efficacy theories to evaluate psychological constructs (autonomous motivation, competency, and outcome expectancy) as mediators of the relationship between working alliance and engagement in transition-vocational rehabilitation (VR) services among African American students with disabilities. A serial multiple mediation analysis was computed to evaluate the mediators of transition-VR service engagement in a sample of 88 African American high school students with disabilities. We found that working alliance was positively associated with active engagement in transition-VR services (total effect), whereas the direct effect of working alliance on engagement was not significant after controlling for the effects of autonomous motivation, competency, and outcome expectancy, supporting significant mediation effects. Findings suggest that a strong working alliance between students and rehabilitation counselors and transition specialists can foster autonomous motivation, competency, and outcome expectancy, resulting in higher levels of engagement in transition-VR services.

Objective: The current study aims to validate the PERMA-Profiler, a well-known well-being measure, among a sample of student veterans. Participants: A sample of 205 student veterans were recruited from universities across the United States. Method: Cross-sectional research design was used in this study. Measurement structure of the PERMA-Profiler was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Convergent, divergent, and criterion-related validity was tested using Pearson correlation coefficients and Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The EFA results yielded a two-factor solution for student veterans. Factors are named as emotional character strengths and performance character strengths. Conclusions: The PERMA-Profiler is a multidimensional scale with good reliability and acceptable levels of convergent, divergent, and criterion-related validity. The PERMA-Profiler can help researchers and practitioners better gauge well-being in student veterans. Implications will be discussed.

Background: Participation is one of the most important interdisciplinary outcome variables in biopsychosocial conceptions of health and disability. While the literature surrounding social and community participation in persons with disabilities indicates that participation is a highly subjective construct, there are few known psychometrically validated instruments designed to measure participation in a way that captures the subjective nature of the concept. The present study aimed to develop and test a measure of participation in a way that prioritizes roles that are subjectively meaningful to the individual. Objective: To establish the psychometric properties of the "Meaningful Role Functioning Questionnaire" (MRFQ) a new life role participation scale intended to measure life role functioning in a way that weighs life roles that are more important to the individual more heavily than those that are less important to the individual. Methods: 229 women with fibromyalgia took an online survey measuring the following biopsychosocial constructs: meaningful role functioning, participation in society, perceived social support, core self-evaluations, fibromyalgia severity, and life satisfaction. Findings: The 4-week test-retest reliability coefficient for the MRFQ was 0.74, indicating acceptable reliability for this measure of life role functioning. The MRFQ was significantly correlated in the expected directions with several external correlates, establishing its construct validity. Conclusions: The MRFQ is a reliable and valid subjective measure of life role functioning in women with fibromyalgia. Future research should seek to validate the scale in a wider range of disability populations and the general public.

Background: The hiring of persons with disabilities continues to lag relative to the employment outcomes of persons without disabilities. Objective: The goal of this descriptive study was to examine human resources (HR) professionals' perceived needs and development considerations related to the use of a community of practice (CoP) to improve the hiring and retention of people with disabilities within the context of the technology acceptance model (TAM). Methods: Participants were 190 HR professionals who were recruited through email invitations distributed by HR professional organizations in the Rocky Mountain region. The survey was comprised of items assessing beliefs regarding the usefulness, ease of use, and barriers to engaging in a CoP. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive and t-test analyses. Findings: Findings supported that 43.6% of HR professionals were unfamiliar with the term CoP, while 40.6% were familiar with the term CoP. A series paired-samples t-test revealed that "LinkedIn" was rated as the preferred social media platform. Moreover, resource libraries were identified as the most valuable feature, followed by frequently asked questions and answers, external links, webinar/live chat, continuing education credits, electronic newsletter, just in time information access, and virtual conferences. Conclusions: The findings from this study indicate CoPs could be a viable option as a knowledge translation mechanism and useful in disseminating information and providing a network that allows the exchange of information between practitioners and researchers.

Purpose: The present study examined patterns of demographic characteristics that are predictive of people's automatic preference for people without disabilities over people with disabilities. Method: Predictions of automatic preference for people without disabilities were investigated among 41,789 individuals who volunteered to complete the Disability Implicit Association Test (D-IAT) at the Project Implicit website (https://implicit.harvard.edu/). Results: Results indicate that men over 55 without a disability, who scored neutral or high on explicit preference for people without disabilities, who are religious and conservative, are likely to have higher automatic and explicit preference for people without disabilities. Conclusions: Results of the present study provide support for the use of implicit association measures to assess latent attitudes toward people with and without disabilities.

This study examined the factorial structure of the construct core self-evaluations (CSE) and tested a mediational model of the relationship between CSE and life satisfaction in college students with disabilities. We conducted a quantitative descriptive design using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. Participants included 97 college students with disabilities majoring in science and technology who received academic and career support services from an urban university on the east coast of the United States. The four CSE traits (self-esteem, self-efficacy, emotional stability, and locus of control) all loaded onto one higher-order CSE variable. Perceived stress, positive affect, and social support were found to completely mediate the relationship between CSE and life satisfaction. CSE was validated as a unidimensional construct in a sample of college students with disabilities. Higher levels of CSE were associated with better life satisfaction because students with high CSE were better at coping with stress, maintaining a positive mood, and building social support than students with low CSE, and this was associated with a higher satisfaction with life. Future research should explore the development of interventions to increase CSE in order to reduce stress, improve affect, and build social support to increase positive psychosocial outcomes such as life satisfaction in college students with disabilities.

The Turkish version of the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale-9 (DAS-9) items assesses an individual's level of endorsement of dysfunctional attitudes associated with depression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate factorial reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the DAS-9. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and the MIMIC model were used to investigate the psychometric properties of the DAS-9. The exploratory factor analysis results indicated a two-factor structure: (a) personal/internal rigid thoughts, and (b) dysfunctional thoughts involving other people and the external world. Participants at a high risk for depression endorsed the factor scores significantly higher than participants at a lower risk. Overall, the results suggest that the scale is a reliable and valid measure that can be used by clinicians and researchers to measure level of dysfunctional attitudes., Author(s): Cahit Kaya [sup.1] , Fong Chan [sup.2] , Dana Brickham [sup.3] , Mickey Allen [sup.4] , Enver Sari [sup.1] , Mustafa Sanal [sup.1] , Temel Topal [sup.1] Author Affiliations: [...]

Transition from high school to college can be very challenging for Turkish students, and poor adjustment can affect students' physical and mental health and well-being. It is important for college counseling center staff in Turkey to have access to screening instruments to identify students with high risk for college life adjustment difficulties. The purpose of this study was to validate a Turkish version of the "Inventory of Common Problems" (ICP; Hoffman and Weiss 1986) for Turkish college students. Two hundreds and thirty-five Turkish university students participated in this study. Factorial structure of the ICP was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis, resulting in a four-factor structure with the internal consistency reliability coefficients for all factors being excellent to average: (a) "emotional problems" (Cronbach's [alpha] = 0.90), (b) "academic problems" ([alpha] = 0.80), (c) "substance use problems" ([alpha] = 0.77), and (d) "physical health problems (a = .73). The emotional problems factor, academic problems factor, and physical health problems factor" were significantly associated with perceived stress, depression, and anxiety in the expected direction, as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10; Cohen and Williamson 1988), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Kroenke et al. 2001) and General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) Scale (Spitzer et al. 2006). This study demonstrated that the Turkish version of the ICP could be regarded as a reliable, valid and multidimensional measure, valuable to counseling and health services professionals in Turkey as well as for Turkish international students studying aboard.

We conducted a scoping review of the demand-side employment literature to identify promising practices that increase employers' motivation and efforts to recruit and hire people with disabilities (PWD). This scoping review was reported in accordance with the Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Anal-yses (PRISMA) guidelines. Five databases were utilized in our effort to search for demand-side employment articles related to recruiting and hiring of people with disabilities published between 1985 and 2017. After filtering articles based on our search criteria, the final number of articles included in the analysis was 96. An analysis of these articles revealed seven central themes related to employers' motivation and efforts to include people with disabilities in their workforces. These themes include: 1) Employer Attitudes; 2) Disability Employment Legislation; 3) Reasonable Accommodations; 4) Diversity and Inclusion Policies, Procedures and Practices; 5) Past Experiences with Hiring PWD; 6) Company Characteristics; and 7) Recruitment Strategies. Findings of this scoping review provide practical and useful information for rehabilitation counselors, transition specialists, and other disability service providers to engage and assist employers in their efforts to recruit and retain qualified employees with disabilities. Keywords: demand-side employment, recruitment, retention, people with disabilities, disability inclusion, and employer practices, According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 56.7 million people (18.7%) of the civilian non-institutionalized population had a disability in 2010 (Brault, 2012). However, less than half of people with [...]

Community participation and autonomy are two of the vital treatments and rehabilitation outcomes for people with chronic health conditions and disabilities, including people with cancer. The purpose of this study is to investigate psychometric properties of the Impact on Participation and Autonomy Scale (IPA) in a sample of Turkish cancer survivors. An exploratory factor analysis was used to analyze data collected from 186 cancer survivors who completed the IPA, Health Care Climate Questionnaire, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Role Functioning subscale of the EORTC Core Quality of Life Questionnaire. In contrast to the original five-factor solution, the results provided a better fit for a three-factor correlated model (Activities of Daily Living [ADL]/ Instrumental ADL, social relations, and employment and education). The IPA factors were significantly associated with supportive healthcare climate, role functioning, and life satisfaction in the theoretically expected directions, providing support for the nomological construct validity of the Turkish version of the IPA. Overall, the Turkish version of the IPA is a psychometrically sound measure of participation and autonomy that can be used to assess cancer survivors' levels of community participation for treatment planning and selection of evidence-based healthcare and psychosocial interventions for cancer survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Employing qualified individuals with disabilities can improve organizational competitiveness and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. However, research on disability inclusion policy and practices among employers committed to hiring people with disabilities is limited. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate efforts of Fortune 500 companies to include disability in their DEI policy and examine the effect of disability inclusion policy and practices on employment of people with disabilities METHODS: Four hundred sixty-six human resource and project managers with hiring authority participated in the present study. The Disability Inclusion Profiler-23 (DIP-23) was used to assess the perceived importance and implementation level of disability inclusion policy and practices in Fortune 500 and non-Fortune 500 companies. Two-sample independent t-tests were used to compare disability-employment rates and disability inclusion scores between Fortune 500 and non-Fortune 500 groups. Parallel mediation analysis was conducted to examine the extent to which executive level and mid-manager level DIP scores mediated the relationship between Fortune 500 companies and disability employment rates. RESULTS: Fortune 500 companies demonstrated higher disability employment rates and better disability inclusion policies and practices compared to non-Fortune 500 companies. CONCLUSION: State vocational rehabilitation agencies and other disability service providers should engage Fortune 500 executives to bolster disability inclusion efforts. Collaboration between vocational rehabilitation professionals and mid-level managers can enhance DIP policy implementation, thereby improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing disability inclusion attitudes across all levels of an organization is critically important to changing workplace culture and to foster a more welcoming atmosphere for people with disabilities. However, there is a paucity of research that has a focus on attitudes of staff level employees who work with people with disabilities on a daily basis. The purpose of this study is to validate a brief measure entitled the Employees Attitudes toward Working with People with Disabilities Scale (EAWPDS) to assess staff's attitudes toward working with co-workers with disabilities in a hospital setting with 210 hospital staff as participants. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used. The results supported a two-factor measurement structure: (a) positive attitudes and (b) negative attitudes with relevant internal consistency reliability and construct validity. In the present study, both positive attitudes and negative attitudes were found to be associated with good help mission, perceived benefits, do good spirit and inclusion in the expected direction. Implications of potential use of the EAWPDS for rehabilitation professionals were discussed. Keywords: people with disabilities, employment, employees' attitudes, factor analysis, Employment and earning a paycheck can have tangible and intangible rewards. Positive rewards or outcomes would include the opportunity for working age adults (ages 18 to 65) to provide for [...]

The relationships among epilepsy related stress, self-perception, and depression were investigated. Previous research has suggested that depression is a major factor affecting quality of life and rehabilitation outcomes of people with epilepsy. However, only limited research has been conducted with this population to understand the underlying mechanisms of depression in epilepsy. A cognitive vulnerability model of depression was used as a theoretical framework, with a longitudinal design incorporating cross-lagged panel analysis to determine the directional relationships among three variables for people with epilepsy: epilepsy related stress, self-perception, and depression. Although the tested model was not fully supported, a directional relationship among initial stress, initial depression, and later self-perception was supported, indicating that initial degree of stress and depression were predictive of self-perception four years later. The results suggest that early detection and intervention for depression should be emphasized by health and rehabilitation professionals to prevent Keywords: Epilepsy, Depression, Cognitive Vulnerability Model, Cross-lagged panel analysis, Longitudinal study, Depression is a serious mental health problem, with significant consequences in terms of human suffering, lost productivity, and even loss of life (Boylan et al., 2004; Brandt et al., 2010; [...]

This study examined the extent to which physical and emotional functioning mediated the relationship between psychological well-being (PERMA) and the career domains of the Illinois Work and Well-Being Model (IW2M) in a group of young adult central nervous system (CNS) cancer survivors. The participants consisted of 81 young adult survivors of childhood CNS cancer aged between 18 and 24 years old (M = 18.90, SD = .97). Participants were asked to fill out the research packet containing demographic information and research instruments. The PROCESS macro written by Hayes was used to estimate the total, direct, and indirect effects of psychological well-being on job awareness, job acquisition and job maintenance through emotional and physical functioning. Study finding suggest that physical and emotional functioning have a differential impact on specific career development factors and that psychological well-being was also found to have a significant impact on each of the three career development domains. Overall, the study findings are consistent with the IW2M that indicates that an individual's perceived level of functioning impacts career development factors and that positive psychology constructs, such as psychological well-being, may also be implicated in perceived functioning and the career development process of young adult CNS cancer survivors. Career and vocational interventions targeting young adult CNS cancer survivors should focus on increasing psychological well-being as well as increasing physical and emotional functioning. In addition, career interventions should consider the differential impact across the career domain., Researchers are increasingly interested in understanding how treatment-related late effects including psychosocial, physical, and emotional concerns impact childhood cancer survivors' social functioning and quality of life. Engaging in career development [...]