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Vocational Rehabilitation for Individuals with Schizophrenia

  • Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders (J Csernansky, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Contrary to popular belief, many individuals with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses want to work, but up to 80 % remain under- or unemployed. Traditional vocational models, which often withhold, or never offer help in finding competitive work until prevocational training, noncompetitive work positions, and other requirements, have been met, ultimately provide little or no benefit in helping people achieve their work goals. To address the need for effective work services, the supported employment model of vocational rehabilitation focusing on rapid attainment of competitive employment has emerged as a compelling alternative to traditional models. Substantial evidence derived from over 30 randomized controlled trials indicates supported employment’s vocational and clinical benefits. More recent research on supported employment has focused on issues of expansion and dissemination. However, access to supported employment remains limited with a substantial need to scale up services in routine clinical and rehabilitation services and to overcome systemic and policy barriers to the funding of supported employment and to fostering work in serious mental illnesses.

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Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge the support of the  National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH077210) and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (H133G090206). This material is supported by resources and the use of facilities at the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation and the Department of Occupational Therapy, Boston University

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rehabilitation Sciences Program, Sargent College, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA, USA

    Chitra Khare MA

  2. Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Boston University, 940 Commonwealth Ave, West, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Chitra Khare MA, Kim T. Mueser PhD & Susan R. McGurk PhD

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  1. Chitra Khare MA
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Correspondence to Susan R. McGurk PhD.

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Chitra Khare declares that she has no conflict of interest to report.

Kim T. Mueser declares that he has no conflict of interest to report.

Susan R. McGurk declares that she has no conflict of interest to report.

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The cited studies conducted by authors of this paper involving human subjects were approved by governing IRBs, with informed consent obtained from all study participants.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders

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Khare, C., Mueser, K.T. & McGurk, S.R. Vocational Rehabilitation for Individuals with Schizophrenia. Curr Treat Options Psych 3, 99–110 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40501-016-0082-9

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