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Work Patterns and Support Needs of People with Serious Mental Illness

Community Mental Health Journal volume 58, pages 1207–1213 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

People with serious mental illness (SMI) are frequently unemployed, despite their willingness to work. Several employment interventions approaches have proven efficacy; however, work integration rates for people with SMI continue to be low. In total, 145 participants with a SMI completed a survey, answering questions regarding their personal information, work history, whether they received supports towards work integration, and their functional level. In addition, clinical records were accessed to verify and complete clinical history. A quantitative descriptive approach was used to analyze the data. No significant differences were found between those who were working and who were not, based on age, gender, educational level, living situation, and suicide risk. Those who were working presented higher levels of functional capacity than those who were not working. Factors associated with employment outcomes continue to remain unclear, adding value to the role that the different supports towards work integration may have.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge all psychiatrists, therapists, psychologists, social workers, secretaries and especially participants that shared their time and personal experiences to contribute to this study. This work was supported by Global Affairs Canada through the Emerging Leaders from the Americas Program (ELAP).

Funding

The article was funded by Global Affairs Canada, ELAP, María Agostina Ciampa.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Maria Agostina Ciampa & María Roca

  2. Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Rosemary Lysaght

Authors
  1. Maria Agostina Ciampa
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  2. María Roca
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  3. Rosemary Lysaght
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Agostina Ciampa and Rosemary Lysaght. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Agostina Ciampa and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Maria Agostina Ciampa.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethical Approval

Reference Number: 6022850. Name of committee: QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES & AFFILIATED TEACHING HOSPITALS RESEARCH ETHICS BOARD (HSREB).

Informed Consent

Participants have given consent for their data to be used in the research study.

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Ciampa, M.A., Roca, M. & Lysaght, R. Work Patterns and Support Needs of People with Serious Mental Illness. Community Ment Health J 58, 1207–1213 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00930-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00930-6

Keywords

  • Work
  • Mental health
  • Supported employment
  • Community services
  • Work integration
  • Employment