A test of the occupational matching hypothesis for rehabilitation clients with severe mental illness.

PURPOSE: This study compared job matching rates for clients with severe mental illness enrolled in two types of employment programs. Also examined was the occupational matching hypothesis that job matching is associated with better employment outcomes. METHODS: The study involved a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial comparing evidence-based supported employment to a diversified placement approach. The study sample consisted of 187 participants, of whom 147 obtained a paid job during the 2-year follow-up. Jobs were coded using the Dictionary of Occupational Titles classification system. Match between initial job preferences and type of job obtained was the predictor variable. Outcomes included time to job start, job satisfaction, and job tenure on first job. RESULTS: Most occupational preferences were for clerical and service jobs, and most participants obtained employment in these two occupational domains. In most cases, the first job obtained matched a participant's occupational preference. The occupational matching hypothesis was not supported for any employment outcome. The occupational matching rate was similar in this study to previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: Most clients who obtain employment with the help of evidence-based supported employment or diversified placement services find jobs matching their occupational preference, and most often it is a rough match. Occupational matching is but one aspect of job matching; it may be time to discard actuarial classification systems such as the Dictionary of Occupational Titles as a basis for assessing job match.

The Effectiveness of Supported Employment in People With Dual Disorders.

OBJECTIVE: This study compared the effectiveness of the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment to control vocational rehabilitation programs for improving the competitive work outcomes of people with a severe mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder. METHODS: A secondary data analysis was conducted drawing from four randomized controlled trials comparing IPS supported employment to conventional vocational rehabilitation programs for severe mental illness, and focusing on the 106 clients with a recent (past 6 months) substance use disorder. Competitive work outcomes were tracked across an 18-month follow-up period. Analyses compared the IPS and comparison vocational programs on cumulative work over the 18 months, including attainment of work, hours and weeks worked, job tenure, wages earned, and days to first job. RESULTS: In the total study group, clients who participated in IPS had better competitive work outcomes than those who participated in a comparison program, with cumulative employment rates of 60% vs. 24%, respectively. Among clients who obtained work during the study period, those receiving IPS obtained their first job significantly more quickly and were more likely to work 20 or more hours per week at some point during the 18-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The IPS model of supported employment is more effective than alternative vocational rehabilitation models at improving the competitive work outcomes of clients with a dual disorder.

Client predictors of employment outcomes in high-fidelity supported employment: a regression analysis.

Research on vocational rehabilitation for clients with severe mental illness over the past 2 decades has yielded inconsistent findings regarding client factors statistically related to employment. The present study aimed to elucidate the relationship between baseline client characteristics and competitive employment outcomes-job acquisition and total weeks worked during an 18-month follow-up-in Individual Placement and Support (IPS). Data from 4 recent randomized controlled trials of IPS were aggregated for within-group regression analyses. In the IPS sample (N = 307), work history was the only significant predictor for job acquisition, but receiving Supplemental Security Income-with or without Social Security Disability Insurance-was associated with fewer total weeks worked (2.0%-2.8% of the variance). In the comparison sample (N = 374), clients with a diagnosis of mood disorder or with less severe thought disorder symptoms were more likely to obtain competitive employment. The findings confirm that clients with severe mental illness interested in competitive work best benefit from high-fidelity supported employment regardless of their work history and sociodemographic and clinical background, and highlight the needs for changes in federal policies for disability income support and insurance regulations.

Fidelity outcomes in the National Implementing Evidence-Based Practices Project.

OBJECTIVE: This article presents fidelity outcomes for five evidence-based practices that were implemented in routine public mental health settings in the National Implementing Evidence-Based Practices Project. METHODS: Over a two-year period 53 community mental health centers across eight states implemented one of five evidence-based practices: supported employment, assertive community treatment, integrated dual disorders treatment, family psychoeducation, and illness management and recovery. An intervention model of practice dissemination guided the implementation. Each site used both human resources (consultant-trainers) and material resource (toolkits) to aid practice implementation and to facilitate organizational changes. External assessors rated fidelity to the evidence-based practice model every six months from baseline to two years. RESULTS: More than half of the sites (29 of 53, or 55%) showed high-fidelity implementation at the end of two years. Significant differences in fidelity emerged by evidence-based practice. Supported employment and assertive community treatment had higher fidelity scores at baseline and across time. Illness management and recovery and integrated dual disorders treatment had lower scores on average throughout. In general, evidence-based practices showed an increase in fidelity from baseline to 12 months, with scores leveling off between 12 and 24 months. CONCLUSIONS: Most mental health centers implemented these evidence-based practices with moderate to high fidelity. The critical time period for implementation was approximately 12 months, after which few gains were made, although sites sustained their attained levels of evidence-based practice fidelity for another year.

Effectiveness of individual placement and support supported employment for young adults.

AIM: The individual placement and support (IPS) model of supported employment was first developed in community mental health centres for adults with severe mental illness. While IPS is an established evidence-based practice in this broad population, evidence on its effectiveness focused specifically on young adults has been limited. The current study aimed to address this gap. METHODS: To investigate the effects of IPS on young adults, the authors conducted a secondary analysis on a pooled sample of 109 unemployed young adults (under age 30) from four randomized controlled trials employing a common research protocol that included a standardized measurement battery and rigorous fidelity monitoring. Researchers assessed these participants over 18 months on nine competitive employment outcome measures. RESULTS: On all measures, the IPS group had significantly better employment outcomes. Overall, 40 (82%) of IPS participants obtained employment during follow-up compared with 25 (42%) of control participants, χ(2) = 17.9, P < .001. IPS participants averaged 25.0 weeks of employment, compared with 7.0 weeks for control participants, t = 4.50, P < .001. CONCLUSIONS: The current analysis supports a small number of previous studies in showing that IPS is highly effective in helping young adults with severe mental illness to attain competitive employment. When young adults acquire competitive jobs and initiate a path towards normal adult roles, they may avoid the cycle of disability and psychiatric patient roles that are demeaning and demoralizing.

Heightened interpersonal dependency in schizophrenia: associations with graver impairment in neurocognition but not with negative or positive symptoms.

This study sought to clarify how dependency traits may be related to neurocognition and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia. Participants were 35 persons diagnosed with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder who were recruited from a comprehensive day hospital at a VA Medical Center. Neurocognition, symptoms and level of interpersonal dependency were measured. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that greater neurocognitive deficits predicted greater dependency needs. No relationship was found between symptoms and the level of dependency needs.

Standardizing measures in four domains of employment outcomes for individual placement and support.

OBJECTIVE: Virtually all studies of the individual placement and support (IPS) model of supported employment measure outcomes for job acquisition, but studies are less consistent in measuring job tenure, hours worked, and employment earnings. Lack of a common set of employment measures limits comparisons across studies and cumulative knowledge about IPS. To lay the groundwork for standardization, this study examined measures in four employment domains and their interrelationships. METHODS: Using a combined data set from four randomized controlled trials of IPS, this study examined mean differences between IPS participants (N=307) and participants in other vocational services (control sample) (N=374) in four domains (job acquisition, job duration, hours worked per week, and total hours and wages). Eight competitive employment measures were examined (employed at any time, total weeks worked, tenure in the longest-held job, total hours worked, average hours per week worked, total wages, days to first job, and working ≥ 20 hours per week during follow-up). Correlations between measures within both the IPS and control samples were determined. RESULTS: IPS participants had significantly better outcomes across all employment measures and domains. Correlations between measures were strong within each domain, but they were variable between domains. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to improving job acquisition, IPS improved job duration, hours worked per week, and total hours and wages. The correlational findings suggest proxy measures to assist meta-analysts in the synthesis of studies for which direct measures are unavailable. Initial steps toward a cross-disciplinary theoretical framework for employment outcomes are described.

Who benefits from supported employment: a meta-analytic study.

AIMS: This meta-analysis sought to identify which subgroups of clients with severe mental illness (SMI) benefited from evidence-based supported employment. METHODS: We used meta-analysis to pool the samples from 4 randomized controlled trials comparing the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment to well-regarded vocational approaches using stepwise models and brokered services. Meta-analysis was used to determine the magnitude of effects for IPS/control group differences within specific client subgroups (defined by 2 work history, 7 sociodemographic, and 8 clinical variables) on 3 competitive employment outcomes (obtaining a job, total weeks worked, and job tenure). RESULTS: The findings strongly favored IPS, with large effect sizes across all outcomes: 0.96 for job acquisition, 0.79 for total weeks worked, and 0.74 for job tenure. Overall, 90 (77%) of the 117 effect sizes calculated for the 39 subgroups exceeded 0.70, and all 117 favored IPS. CONCLUSIONS: IPS produces better competitive employment outcomes for persons with SMI than alternative vocational programs regardless of background demographic, clinical, and employment characteristics.

Hope, awareness of illness, and coping in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: evidence of an interaction.

Controversy exists regarding whether awareness of schizophrenia is linked with healthier or poorer psychosocial function. This study examined whether hope might interact with insight to affect function at the level of active versus avoidant coping preferences among 96 persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Factorial multivariate analysis of variance comparing groups classified on the basis of hope and insight scores revealed a significant interaction between hope and insight (Wilks lambda = 2.7; p< 0.05). Post hoc analyses indicated that persons with high insight and high hope demonstrated the most adaptive coping preferences, whereas those with high insight and lower hope demonstrated the least.