Supported Employment Outcomes for People with Psychiatric Disability

The Potential Impact of Job Automation on Veterans in Vocational Rehabilitation Programs

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to examine the potential impact of job automation on veterans in the largest U.S. vocational rehabilitation program, the Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) program.

METHODS

Sixty-two CWT managers were surveyed about common jobs that veterans want and are placed in and about the anticipated impact of job automation on veterans in this program. Probabilistic estimates of job automation were applied to manager responses.

RESULTS

The most common jobs veterans want or are placed in have high probabilities of being automated, including housekeeping/janitorial service (66% probability), administrative and clerical tasks (96%), food service (87%-96%), and warehouse positions (98%). Forty percent of managers anticipate that job automation will have negative impacts on job opportunities for veterans; another 15% believe that new jobs will emerge, but education and retraining will be needed.

CONCLUSIONS

For adults who need vocational rehabilitation, planning is needed to adjust to the changing landscape of work that automation presents.

At the Crossroads: Supported Employment a Decade Later

Supported employment has grown rapidly within the past decade, fueled by the consumer empowerment and inclusion movements. The program has resulted in thousands of people with severe disabilities entering the labor force for the first time. Many consumers have expanded their vocational expectations, and employers have developed a new appreciation of the potential contribution individuals with disabilities can make to the workforce. Unfortunately, despite these dramatic gains, the supported employment movement appears to have lost much of its early momentum and is increasingly at a crossroads. This article addresses major challenges that consumers and professionals alike must face. Conversion of day programs to integrated work options, expansion of program capacity, the need to insure consumer choice and self-determination, and the achievement of meaningful employment outcomes in a highly competitive economy are among the challenges that those dedicated to the supported employment movement must solve in the years ahead. Specific recommendations are offered to meet each challenge. Ultimately, the way to expand and reenergize the supported employment initiative will be to educate and empower more consumers and families.

Attitudes toward disabilities and mental illness in work settings: a review

Summary

Aims – The aim of the present work is to analyse employers' and employees' attitudes towards the job integration of people with mental illness or disability and to highlight the socio-demographic and organizational characteristic that are more significantly associated with such attitudes. Method – We performedPsycINFO, AskERIC and Medlinesearches for studies published from 1961 to 2002, with key words such asattitudes, stigma, schizophrenia, mental illness, disability, employers, employees, co-workers and supported employment. Results – Our review of the literature showed that the possibility for people with severe mental illness or disability to enter job market is limited by the discriminating attitudes of employers. The socio-demographic and organizational characteristics, which are more significantly associated with employers' more positive attitudes, are: dimension of the company, previous positive contact with people with disability and employers' high educational level. Conclusions – Such information could be useful to identify and, perhaps, select those companies, which can be predicted as more likely to accept people with mental disorders as part of their work force; they could also be used to train job applicants to improve their social skills. Finally such information could be used to plan specific programs to modify attitudes of employees and employers.

Declaration of Interests

in the last two years, the authors have been paid by the IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli in Brescia (Italy), either as employees, or through research assistantships, or as free professionals.

Impact of follow-along support on job tenure in the individual placement and support model

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) effectively helps clients with severe mental illness to obtain competitive jobs. However, one IPS model component, ongoing support for clients who obtain employment, has not been empirically validated. We hypothesized that frequency of employment specialist contact would be associated with job tenure. IPS employment specialists provided monthly data on 142 clients who had obtained employment, recording client contacts and competitive employment outcomes over a 2-year follow-up. Prototypically, employment specialists made weekly contact immediately after a job start, within a few months reduced this to monthly, and maintained this frequency thereafter. Frequency of contact was positively correlated with months of work during follow-up (r = 0.27). IPS typically provides support for 1 year or more after clients begin the job. Ongoing IPS support from employment specialists promotes continued employment. Future research should identify characteristics of effective employment specialist interventions and examine other sources of support.

Chinese cultural dynamics of unemployability of male adults with psychiatric disabilities in Hong Kong

Work and employment has long been regarded as crucial for the mental health of human beings. Unemployment may lead to deterioration of physical and mental health. Nevertheless, for adults with psychiatric disabilities, discontinuity of employment is common. They may have various reasons to discontinue their employment. In Hong Kong, only 2.5% of people with psychiatric disabilities discharged from sheltered workshops are able to seek open employment. By means of illustration, the authors will show that traditional Chinese work culture tends to reinforce the discontinuity of employment of adult males with psychiatric disabilities. In Chinese culture, work is a means to occupy time, control misbehavior, show consistency of words and deeds, and to glorify parents and ancestors. All these factors contribute to the fulfillment of an adult male role and identity in traditional Chinese culture. In this case history, instead of finding realistic employment, a male adult with psychiatric disability tried to indulge himself in what he felt was his ideal job to fulfill all requirement as an adult male in Chinese culture. The imaginative ideal job gave him excuses to discontinue open employment. Its implications to vocational rehabilitation with male adults with psychiatric disability are also discussed.

Job satisfaction and intent to continue working among individuals with serious mental illness

This study investigated the relationship between job satisfaction and the intention to continue working in a sample of 87 individuals with psychiatric disabilities who worked in supported or supervised employment. Data were collected from respondents in Columbus, Ohio in 1996. After controlling for selected correlates (education, length of employment, contract type, social support, and attitudes concerning pay and toward work), standard multiple regression analyses indicated that job satisfaction was a significant predictor of intent to continue working. Analyses also indicated that respondents who completed high school and who said that they worked primarily for the money were less likely to want to continue working at current jobs. These findings may be used to improve the vocational success of individuals with psychiatric disabilities who work in supported and supervised employment.