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Cognitive and Social Functioning Correlates of Employment Among People with Severe Mental Illness

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Abstract

We assess how social and cognitive functioning is associated to gaining employment for 213 people diagnosed with severe mental illness taking part in employment programs in Andalusia (Spain). We used the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status and the Social Functioning Scale and conducted two binary logistical regression analyses. Response variables were: having a job or not, in ordinary companies (OCs) and social enterprises, and working in an OC or not. There were two variables with significant adjusted odds ratios for having a job: “attention” and “Educational level”. There were five variables with significant odds ratios for having a job in an OC: “Sex”, “Educational level”, “Attention”, “Communication”, and “Independence-competence”. The study looks at the possible benefits of combining employment with support and social enterprises in employment programs for these people and underlines how both social and cognitive functioning are central to developing employment models.

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Acknowledgments

This study was conducted thanks to the financial backing of the European Social Fund of the European Union and the Andalusian Employment Service of the Regional Government of Andalusia.

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Seville, C/Camilo José Cela, s/n, 41018, Seville, Spain

    Javier Saavedra & Samuel Arias

  2. Andalusia’s Public Foundation for the Social Integration of Persons with Mental Disorder (FAISEM), Avda. Las Ciencias, 27, Acc. A, 41020, Seville, Spain

    Marcelino López & Sergio González

  3. School of Health Sciences, Centre for Social Futures, Institute of Mental Health, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    Paul Crawford

Authors
  1. Javier Saavedra
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  2. Marcelino López
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  3. Sergio González
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  4. Samuel Arias
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  5. Paul Crawford
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Correspondence to Javier Saavedra.

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Saavedra, J., López, M., González, S. et al. Cognitive and Social Functioning Correlates of Employment Among People with Severe Mental Illness. Community Ment Health J 52, 851–858 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-015-9874-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-015-9874-4

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