Employment is Essential for Individuals with Severe Mental Illness

Employment rates among individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) are less than 20% despite an often-high desire to obtain some form of employment or place in society (Suijkerbuijk et al., 2017). It is well known that work contributes to an enhanced quality of life, decreased poverty, decreased psychiatric symptoms and inpatient hospital visits, increased self-esteem, and self-worth, improved social skills, and reduced stigma (Suijkerbuijk et al., 2017). The research is relatively straightforward, Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an effective intervention for increasing employment rates among people with SMI. Two systematic reviews corroborated this result (Suijkerbuijk et al., 2017; Crowther et al., 2010). In comparison, IPS has been demonstrated to be a superior model to pre-vocational training, modified vocational rehab (Crowther et al., 2010), and the Diversified Placement Approach (DPA) to employment and treatment as usual, defined as psychiatric medication management. (Kukla et al., 2009). In addition, IPS has been demonstrated to double participant access to work opportunities and success (Koletsi et al., 2009).

The following infographics have been created to explore the importance of employment and implementation of the EBP Individual Placement and Support (IPS).

References:

Crowther, R., Marshall, M., Bond, G. R., & Huxley, P. (2010). Vocational rehabilitation for people with severe mental illness  [Systematic Review]. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010.

Koletsi, M., Niersman, A., van Busschbach, J. T., Catty, J., Becker, T., Burns, et al., (2009). Working with mental health problems: Clients’ experiences of IPS, vocational rehabilitation and employment. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 44(11), 961–970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0017-5

Kukla, M., & Bond, G. R. (2009). The working alliance and employment outcomes for people with severe mental illness enrolled in vocational programs. Rehabilitation Psychology, 54(2), 157–163. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015596

Suijkerbuijk, Y, B, Schaafsma, F, G, van Mechelen, J, C, Ojajarvi, A, Corbiere, M & Anema, J. R. (2017). Interventions for obtaining and maintaining employment in adults with severe mental illness, a network meta-analysis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (9).

Addressing employment should be prioritized as a primary intervention in mental health care.