Vocational rehabilitation for adults with psychotic disorders in a Scandinavian welfare society

BACKGROUND

This study examined the outcomes of a vocational rehabilitation program (The Job Management Program, JUMP) for persons with psychotic disorders based on close collaboration between health and welfare services.

METHODS

Participants (N = 148) with broad schizophrenia spectrum disorders (age 18-65) were recruited from six counties in Norway. Three counties were randomized to vocational rehabilitation augmented with cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), while the remaining three counties were randomized to vocational rehabilitation augmented with cognitive remediation (CR). This paper compares the vocational activity of the total group of JUMP participants with a treatment as usual group (N = 341), and further examines differences between the two JUMP interventions. Employment status (working/not working) was registered at the time of inclusion and at the end of the intervention period.

RESULTS

The total number of JUMP participants in any kind of vocational activity increased from 17 to 77% during the intervention. Of these, 8% had competitive employment, 36% had work placements in ordinary workplaces with social security benefits as their income, and 33% had sheltered work. The total number of working participants in the TAU group increased from 15.5 to 18.2%. The JUMP group showed significant improvements of positive (t = -2.33, p = 0.02) and general (t = -2.75, p = 0.007) symptoms of psychosis. Significant differences between the CBT and CR interventions were not demonstrated.

CONCLUSIONS

The study supports existing evidence that the majority of persons with broad schizophrenia spectrum disorders can cope with some kind of work, given that internal and external barriers are reduced. Those who wish to work should be offered vocational rehabilitation.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01139502 . Registered on 6 February 2010.

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A Holistic Approach to Improve Nursing Retention During the First Year of Employment

The national nursing shortage, coupled with our country's financial challenges, provides a platform for creative nursing retention practices by health care organizations. It was from that platform that this research study was undertaken to determine if nurses who receive a high level of personal interest, education, and support through self-care workshops and one-on-one communication would continue their employment at the organization. The research question was "Will providing holistic self-care workshops during the first year of employment impact the nursing retention rates?" A total of 89 newly hired nurses were enrolled in the study, in which they participated in a 90-minute interactive workshop held weekly for 4 consecutive weeks. In the workshops, the nurses were guided to an understanding of the importance of self-care activities. The responses of the nurses who participated were positive. As a result of this study, the self-care workshops have continued with modification in length and the time when they were provided.

When one door closes

We probably all know someone who has been made redundant from their job. It could even have happened to you.

Platforms for progression

Nurses looking for jobs could do worse than spend more time on their smartphones, because employers are increasingly using social media to recruit staff.

[The work and health of adolescents: the gender aspects]

The purpose of the research is to study the gender aspects of the employment of adolescents, working in the time free from their study, and its impact on the livestyle and health, to assess the risks to health of students. There was studied the employment of senior pupils and students of vocational schools (1.2 thousand persons at the age from 14 till 18 years) in 5 regions of the Russian Federation. The results indicate to a prevalence of illegal employment of the minors. Among young men 62% work part time, among young women - 37%. Violations of hygienic requirements for working conditions and labor law violations are more common in young men employment. The first experience of work can render negative impact on the lifestyle and the state of health. In the working adolescents there is observed the higher prevalence of the behavioral risk factors (smoking, alcohol, drugs, sleep deprivation and others). Adolescents with work experience have lower health status. The analysis of odds ratio (OR), relative risk (RR), etiological fraction (EF) showed that to the higher health risk there are exposed teenagers working constantly throughout the year. In this group among girls there is a high prevalence of chronic diseases (RR = 2; OR = 3.9), of complaints of indigestion (RR = 2; OR = 2.5). In the group of young men, working continuously, the percentage of frequently ill with acute respiratory infections is higher (RR = 3.3; OR = 3.7), there is a higher number of complaints of heartburn (RR = 2.1; OR = 2.6), back pain (RR = 1.8; OR = 2.2). Working young men have higher health risk by comparison with working young women.

Is Fixed-Term Employment a New Risk for Adverse Physical Working Conditions?

Relationships between employment type and the physical work environment were studied among blue-collar workers (n = 1,127). Based on survey data, we set out to compare the evaluations of environmental load and physical strain at work given by fixed-term (17% of all) and permanent workers. The type of employment was not related to environmental load. However, working on a fixed-term basis increased the risk of physical strain at work. Analyses revealed that this connection was evident only among fixed-term construction workers. The results did not support the much-cited view that the disintegration of standard employment has given rise to a new series of work environment problems. Such problems are concentrated in an area with a long tradition of work environment problems, that is, in the construction industry.

[Suitable working conditions for elderly people with different degrees of compensation of dysfunctional blood circulation of eyes]

In dealing with complex problems in labor and social rehabilitation of elderly people with different degrees of compensation of dysfunctional blood circulation of eyes, a great role play methods of rational and qualitative analysis of appropriate employment. The analysis of 110 patients of 55-70 years of age (220 eyes) with dysfunctional blood circulation of eyes has been done. Professional abilities of elderly patients with dysfunctional blood circulation of eyes depend on the state of functioning vision and the level of blood circulation of the eye. In our study we show the clinical and prognostic data and based on that we could develop the absolutely prohibited working conditions depending on the level dysfunctional blood circulation of eyes of elderly people.

RCN medical negligence insurance now only applies to self-employed

Changes to the RCN's indemnity scheme, which provides insurance cover against medical negligence claims, means nurses who work under a contract of employment will no longer be covered.

Experimental evidence from active placement efforts among unemployed in Sweden

This article uses data from a field experiment in Sweden to analyze the effects of active placement efforts. In particular, the relative efficiency between combining job-search monitoring and job-search assistance, and monitoring alone, is analyzed. Although the impact estimates are generally imprecisely estimated, a general conclusion is that placement programs are effective policies in increasing the job exit rate for various groups of unemployed. I find that monitoring of job search is an efficient method to increase off-unemployment exit rate both alone and combined with job-search assistance services. The results, however, indicate that the combined services generate more permanent job exits.

Vocal fry may undermine the success of young women in the labor market

Vocal fry is speech that is low pitched and creaky sounding, and is increasingly common among young American females. Some argue that vocal fry enhances speaker labor market perceptions while others argue that vocal fry is perceived negatively and can damage job prospects. In a large national sample of American adults we find that vocal fry is interpreted negatively. Relative to a normal speaking voice, young adult female voices exhibiting vocal fry are perceived as less competent, less educated, less trustworthy, less attractive, and less hirable. The negative perceptions of vocal fry are stronger for female voices relative to male voices. These results suggest that young American females should avoid using vocal fry speech in order to maximize labor market opportunities.

Testosterone is associated with self-employment among Australian men

Testosterone has pronounced effects on men's physiological development and smaller, more nuanced, impacts on their economic behavior. In this study of 1199 Australian adult males, we investigate the relationship between the self-employed and their serum testosterone levels. Because prior studies have identified that testosterone is a hormone that is responsive to external factors (e.g. competition, risk-taking), we explicitly control for omitted variable bias and reverse causality by using an instrumental variable approach. We use insulin as our primary instrument to account for endogeneity between testosterone and self-employment. This is because prior research has identified a relationship between insulin and testosterone but not between insulin and self-employment. Our results show that there is a positive association between total testosterone and self-employment. Robustness checks using bioavailable testosterone and another similar instrument (daily alcohol consumption) confirm this positive finding.

Clergy who experience trauma as a result of forced termination

Forced termination of clergy is a demeaning and psychologically distressing experience. Clergy who experience a forced termination are subjected to mobbing (psychological harassment) and other activities meant to publicly or privately demean a minister in such a way that they resign their ministry position. In a purposive convenience sample of 55 ministers who had been forcibly terminated, participants scored above the known cut-off score for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and scored high on a measure of burnout and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Forced termination has been anecdotally connected to PTSD and GAD, this project sought to empirically link PTSD and GAD to the forced termination of clergy. This study raises concern for the long-term mental health effects of ministers who have been forcibly terminated and provides implications for future clinical study on this group of clergy. Findings in this research indicate there may be a process to forced termination, which could be developed into a theory on forced termination of clergy.

A multilevel analysis of the impacts of services provided by the U.K. Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration

BACKGROUND

The United Kingdom Employment Retention and Advancement (U.K. ERA) demonstration was the largest and most comprehensive social experiment ever conducted in the United Kingdom. It examined the extent to which a combination of postemployment advisory support and financial incentives could help lone parents on welfare to find sustained employment with prospects for advancement. ERA was experimentally tested across more than 50 public employment service offices and, within each office, individuals were randomly assigned to either a program (or treatment) group (eligible for ERA) or a control group (not eligible).

METHOD

This article presents the results of a multilevel nonexperimental analysis that examines the variation in office-level impacts and attempts to understand what services provided in the offices tend to be associated with impacts.

RESULT

The analysis suggests that impacts were greater in offices that emphasized in-work advancement, support while working and financial bonuses for sustained employment, and also in those offices that assigned more caseworkers to ERA participants. Offices that encouraged further education had smaller employment impacts.

CONCLUSION

Plausible results are obtained identifying those particular implementation features that tended to be linked to stronger impacts of ERA. The methodology employed also allows the identification of which services are associated with employment and welfare receipt of control families receiving benefits under the traditional New Deal for Lone Parent program.

Role of careers advisers in nurse recruitment

The aim of the national Image of Nursing programme is to attract high calibre recruits to nursing. This article describes research into the role of careers advisers and how they perceive the image of 'nurses' and 'nursing'. It explores their professional profiles, perceptions and attitudes to nursing as a career, knowledge about the requirements and opportunities for entering nursing, and the resources used. The findings identify a number of systemic influences, in six themes, from which are derived 16 recommendations. Nurse leaders across healthcare services and universities are ideally placed to review, revise and develop the recommendations to optimise high calibre nurse recruitment and provide a more positive image of nursing.

Accommodations quality for students who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing

Students who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing often receive accommodations that are intended to increase access to the educational environment. The authors provide the results of a large national study of accommodations use in secondary and postsecondary settings. The article focuses on three aspects of accommodations use: access, quality, and consistency. The participants were 1,350 professionals working with a diverse group of students who were d/Deaf or hard of hearing in a variety of roles, including educators, administrators, interpreters, vocational rehabilitation agency staff, and allied service providers. Data were collected from both a national survey and a series of focus groups conducted over a 1-year period. The authors discuss the results in light of the crucial nature of accommodations during the transition into a variety of educational, training, and employment options.

Communication as a mechanism for cultural integration

Providing autonomy for employees ensures innovation competence if balanced by integration into the organization. The aim of this article is to study processes leading to the integration of employees into the company culture. The two research questions are: What makes the culture of a work group similar to the company culture? How is a work group culture constructed? Theories that are employed concern culture as an organizing structure emerging in the interaction, company culture as a way to exert control, and social networks as a way to describe the interaction. Empirical data come from a merchant bank from which 105 respondents from ten work groups answered questions about their communication and their integration into the company culture. The results show that the sub-culture of the group emerges in communication between members of the group. There seems to be a self-reinforcing spiral between collegial talk, especially about goals, plans and changes at the work place, and cultural integration. All members of a group should be included in this communication to create a strong culture. The value system of the supervisor strongly influences the sub-culture of the work group. Appointing supervisors with values that correspond to the company culture and provide for employee communications is thus central for organizations using culture as a tool for control.

[Old age workers]

The author demonstrates that in conditions of demographic aging an important contribution in solving the task set in "Strategy 2020" on more efficient usage of working resources could be involvement of occupational potential of old age workers, e.g. through changeable working schedules, outwork and distance work. With that, employment level at old age should consider performance level, health state and psycho-physiologic potential of the certain age group.