Does personality influence job acquisition and tenure in people with severe mental illness enrolled in supported employment programs?

Job satisfaction and job tenure of people with mental health disorders: a UK Biobank cohort study

AIMS

Job satisfaction plays an important role for the life quality and health of working individuals. While studies have shown that self-reported mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety and depression are associated with job satisfaction, a large population-based study exploring and comparing self-reported physician posed diagnosed conditions and their association with job satisfaction and job tenure is missing. This study addresses the gap along with exploring the impact of the neurotic personality trait and other possible contributing factors.

METHODS

Sixteen mental health disorders diagnosed by physicians, categorised into four major groups were investigated in relation to employment status (108,711 participants) and in relation to job satisfaction and job tenure (34,808 participants). Analyses were performed using linear regression adjusted for age, sex, townsend deprivation index, body mass index, education, physical activity, work hours and neuroticism.

RESULTS

Neurotic and stress disorders, eating disorders and other mental health disorders were strongly associated with lower job satisfaction and shorter job tenure in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Neuroticism was strongly linked to job satisfaction but was not associated with job tenure.

CONCLUSIONS

Study findings clarify the complex relationship of mental health with job satisfaction and job tenure, which is very important to understand in designing measures to improve working life participation of individuals with mental health issues.

Intersectional perspectives on the employment rate in Supported Employment for people with psychiatric, neuropsychiatric, or intellectual disabilities: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Supported Employment (SE) has shown better results in the employment rate for persons with disabilities than other methods within vocational rehabilitation, but how SE affects the employment rate for subgroups in the interventions needs further attention.

OBJECTIVE

To examine previous research regarding the influence of intersecting statuses on the employment rate in SE for people with psychiatric, neuropsychiatric, or intellectual disabilities according to type of diagnosis, sex, race/ethnicity, age, level of education and previous work history.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was conducted in nine databases including peer-reviewed articles from 2000 to April 2021. Articles presenting the employment rate in SE interventions according to the intersecting statuses listed in the objective were included.

RESULTS

The searches identified 3777 unique records, of which 53 articles were included in data extraction. In most of the included articles, intersecting statuses did not affect the employment rate for people in the SE interventions with psychiatric disabilities. Few studies have examined neuropsychiatric and intellectual disabilities. A majority of the studies subjected to full-text analysis were excluded due to a lack of reporting of the effects of intersecting statuses on the employment rate. The studies that reported on the effects of intersecting statuses on the employment rate often had small samples and lacked statistical power.

CONCLUSIONS

Intersecting statuses do not appear to affect the employment rate for people receiving SE interventions, but systematic reviews with pooled samples need to be undertaken because of the low reporting rate and underpowered sample sizes in existing studies.

Barriers to Client Engagement and Strategies to Improve Participation in Mental Health and Supported Employment Services

OBJECTIVE

A few clients in every mental health center present challenging behaviors, have difficulty engaging in services, and create stress within the treatment team. The authors provided consultations on clients with these characteristics over 4 years in the Social Security Administration's Supported Employment Demonstration (SED).

METHODS

Four experienced community mental health leaders provided consultations on 105 of nearly 2,000 clients receiving team-based behavioral health and employment services in the SED. Using document analysis, consultants coded their notes and identified themes that described barriers to client engagement and strategies teams used to overcome them.

RESULTS

Clients who were difficult to engage experienced complex and interacting behavioral health, medical, and social conditions, which made it hard for therapists to develop therapeutic relationships and help clients find employment. Faced with engagement barriers, staff were often discouraged and felt hopeless about achieving success. To address these barriers, consultants and teams developed several strategies: using supervisors and teammates for support, providing persistent outreach, pursuing referrals and consultations to help with complex conditions, and developing realistic goals.

CONCLUSIONS

Supervisors, team leaders, and consultants in community mental health settings should help staff develop realistic strategies to manage the small number of clients whose behaviors present the greatest challenges. Effective strategies involve providing team-based outreach and support, fostering staff morale, obtaining specialist consultations regarding complex conditions, and calibrating realistic goals.

Minds@Work: A New Manualized Intervention to Improve Job Tenure in Psychosis Based on Scoping Review and Logic Model

Introduction A significant proportion of people experiencing psychosis are unemployed, despite a strong desire to work. Current supported employment programs appear effective in helping them obtain employment, yet job tenure remains an arduous challenge. The objective of this study was to review the literature and model the results to inform the development of a new manualized group psychosocial intervention-'Minds@Work'-aimed specifically at improving job tenure in psychosis. Methods The study was registered on the Open Science Framework platform ( https://osf.io/he68z ). The literature was searched in Medline, Embase, PsycInfo and Cochrane Library databases for studies examining predictors of job tenure in psychosis and existing occupational psychosocial interventions. Data were extracted using a pre-established form and synthesized using logic models. Results A total of 94 studies were included and their findings were modeled using different categories: intervention typologies, mechanisms of action, predictors of job tenure, outcomes and contextual factors. The 'Minds@Work' program was built based on these modeled findings and aimed to target specific predictors of job tenure while addressing some of the limitations of existing interventions. The program uses evidence-based techniques and is divided into 9 modules covering 4 themes: positive psychology (motivation, character strengths, self-compassion), neurocognitive remediation (attention, memory, problem-solving), cognitive biases training (jumping to conclusions, defeatists beliefs, theory of mind, attributional styles) and socioemotional coping skills (emotion regulation, communication). Conclusions Once validated, this new program is meant to be used either as a stand-alone intervention or integrated in supported employment initiatives, by employment specialists or healthcare workers.

Examining Psychological Self-Sufficiency Among Low-Income Jobseekers with Mental Health Barriers

The study is to investigate psychological self-sufficiency-the force within someone that activates cognitive and non-cognitive process of shifting perceived barriers into hope actions-as it relates to economic self-sufficiency among jobseekers with mental health barriers. Among a sample of 2455 low-income jobseekers in job readiness programs at six community-based agencies in Chicago, a subsample of 424 who self-identified as having mental illness barriers are selected to analyze the relationships between employment hope, employment barriers, and economic self-sufficiency using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that employment hope mediates the path between perceived employment barriers and economic self-sufficiency. The study further highlights the positive effects of employment barriers on employment hope among jobseekers with perceived mental illnesses. The findings support growing evidence that psychological self-sufficiency is positively associated with gaining economic self-sufficiency in workforce development programs.