Implementing the individual placement and support (IPS) approach for people with mental health conditions in England

BACKGROUND: Evidence continues to build on the value of Individual Placement and Support (IPS), enabling those with long-term mental health conditions to find mainstream employment. Many of these individuals would like to work; however, unemployment for this population remains high. IPS research thus far has targeted the effectiveness of the model, with less emphasis on how individuals perceive and experience IPS and the return to work. OBJECTIVE: This study explores the barriers, enablers, meaning and personal experience of being supported to find work through IPS, for individuals with long-term mental health conditions. Findings based on lived experiences of nine participants from two Scottish centres running IPS, should be useful to enhance and develop services. METHODS: This study involves qualitative data collection, using semi-structured interviews and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). RESULTS: Transcript analysis revealed three master themes: 1) “Working is good for me”: positive aspects to working; 2) “Rome wasn’t built in a day”: time-unlimited supported journey and 3) “My inner critic”: negative aspects to working. Participants praised IPS for the on-going practical and emotional support in overcoming self-identified occupational barriers. CONCLUSION: Paid employment was greatly associated with financial freedom, social inclusion, increased self-esteem and alleviation of depressive symptoms. Participants described the person-centred, time-unlimited approach taken by the employment specialists (ESs) or occupational therapists (OTs), as the main enabler to maintaining paid employment. Barriers, such as anxiety and work-related stress were identified, however, participants felt supported to overcome some of these negative symptoms.

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Implementing Supported Employment. Lessons from the Making IPS Work Project

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph15071545 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (7) ◽

pp. 1545 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jan Hutchinson ◽

David Gilbert ◽

Rachel Papworth ◽

Jed Boardman

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Service ◽

Support Services ◽

Supported Employment ◽

Evidence Base ◽

Health Conditions ◽

Individual Placement And Support ◽

Psychosocial Services ◽

Mental Health Conditions ◽

Individual Placement

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an internationally accepted and effective form of supported employment for people with severe mental health conditions. Despite its strong evidence base, the implementation of IPS has been slow and inconsistent. In England, a demonstration project, Making IPS Work, was developed to offer support for the implementation of IPS in six local sites National Health Service Mental Health trusts. The project aimed to: Establish Individual Placement and Support services within clinical teams; develop high fidelity practice and leave a sustainable IPS service beyond the project. The number of people gaining open employment in each site was monitored. Fidelity checks were carried out at three sites by independent assessors. Stakeholders were interviewed over the 18-month lifetime of the implementation period to examine the experience of developing the services in the six sites. A total of 421 jobs were found for people with mental health conditions over 18 months with a large variation between the highest and lowest performing sites. The sites assessed for fidelity all attained the threshold for a ‘Good Fidelity’ service. The new services were readily accepted by mental health service users, clinical staff and managers across the trust sites. Maintaining the funding for the Individual Placement and Support services beyond the project period proved to be problematic for many sites. Placing the services within a broader strategy of improving psychosocial services and bringing together decision making at the corporate, commissioning and clinical management level were helpful in achieving success. The growth and maintenance of these services is difficult to achieve whilst the current cost pressures on the NHS continue.

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How Stereotypes Deceive Us

10.1093/oso/9780192845559.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Katherine Puddifoot

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

At Risk ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Social Attitudes ◽

Health Conditions ◽

Specific Context ◽

Mental Health Conditions ◽

Negative Effect ◽

The Individual ◽

Correct Judgement

Stereotypes sometimes lead us to make poor judgements of other people, but they also have the potential to facilitate quick, efficient, and accurate judgements. How can we discern whether any individual act of stereotyping will have the positive or negative effect? How Stereotypes Deceive Us addresses this question. It identifies various factors that determine whether or not the application of a stereotype to an individual in a specific context will facilitate or impede correct judgements and perceptions of the individual. It challenges the thought that stereotyping only and always impedes correct judgement when the stereotypes that are applied are inaccurate, failing to reflect social realities. It argues instead that stereotypes that reflect social realities can lead to misperceptions and misjudgements, and that inaccurate but egalitarian social attitudes can facilitate correct judgements and accurate perceptions. The arguments presented in this book have important implications for those who might engage in stereotyping and for those at risk of being stereotyped. They have implications for those who work in healthcare and those who have mental health conditions. How Stereotypes Deceive Us provides a new conceptual framework—evaluative dispositionalism—that captures the epistemic faults of stereotypes and stereotyping, providing conceptual resources that can be used to improve our own thinking by avoiding the pitfalls of stereotyping, and to challenge other people’s stereotyping where it is likely to lead to misperception and misjudgement.

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Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of individual placement and support (IPS) for patients with offending histories in the community: The United Kingdom experience

British Journal of Occupational Therapy ◽

10.1177/0308022619879334 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 83 (3) ◽

pp. 179-190 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Najat Khalifa ◽

Sarah Hadfield ◽

Louise Thomson ◽

Emily Talbot ◽

Yvonne Bird ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Support Service ◽

Barriers And Facilitators ◽

High Fidelity ◽

Individual Placement And Support ◽

Health History ◽

Mental Health History ◽

The Individual ◽

The Impact ◽

Individual Placement

Introduction We aimed to identify the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of a high fidelity individual placement and support service in a community forensic mental health setting. Method In-depth interviews were conducted with clinical staff ( n = 11), patients ( n = 3), and employers ( n = 5) to examine barriers and facilitators to implementation of a high fidelity individual placement and support service. Data was analysed using thematic analysis, and themes were mapped onto individual placement and support fidelity criteria. Results Barriers cited included competing interests between employment support and psychological therapies, perceptions of patients’ readiness for work, and concerns about the impact of returning to work on welfare benefits. Facilitators of implementation included clear communication of the benefits of individual placement and support, inter-disciplinary collaboration, and positive attitudes towards the support offered by the individual placement and support programme among stakeholders. Offences, rather than mental health history, were seen as a key issue from employers’ perspectives. Employers regarded disclosure of offending or mental health history as important to developing trust and to gauging their own capacity to offer support. Conclusions Implementation of individual placement and support in a community mental health forensic setting is complex and requires robust planning. Future studies should address the barriers identified, and adaptations to the individual placement and support model are needed to address difficulties encountered in forensic settings.

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Implementing the Individual Placement and Support approach in institutional settings for employment and mental health services – perceptions and challenges from a case study in Denmark

European Journal of Social Work ◽

10.1080/13691457.2020.1870216 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Inge Storgaard Bonfils

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Individual Placement And Support ◽

Institutional Settings ◽

The Individual ◽

Individual Placement

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Challenges of integrating employment services with mental health services as part of the ‘Individual placement and support’ approach

Nordic Social Work Research ◽

10.1080/2156857x.2020.1758756 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Inge Storgaard Bonfils

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Individual Placement And Support ◽

Employment Services ◽

The Individual ◽

Individual Placement

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Perspectives: involving persons with lived experience of mental health conditions in service delivery, development and leadership

BJPsych Bulletin ◽

10.1192/bjb.2021.51 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-4

Author(s):

Charlene Sunkel ◽

Claudia Sartor

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Lived Experience ◽

Peer Support ◽

Health Conditions ◽

The Public ◽

Mental Health Conditions ◽

The Individual

Summary Globally, there has been an emphasis on the importance and value of involving people with lived experience of mental health conditions in service delivery, development and leadership. Such individuals have taken on various roles, from peer support specialists and other specialised professions to leadership in mainstream industries. There are, however, still obstacles to overcome before it is possible to fully include people with lived experience at all levels in the mental health and related sectors. This article discusses the benefits, both to the individual and to the public, of involving persons with lived experience in service delivery, development and leadership.

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Nursing Students’ Perception Toward Recovery in Mental Health: A Descriptive Qualitative Study

Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association ◽

10.1177/10783903211023564 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107839032110235

Author(s):

Wei Wei Chua ◽

Jonathan Han Loong Kuek ◽

Yong Shian Goh

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Nursing Students ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

Health Conditions ◽

Personal Recovery ◽

Mental Health Conditions ◽

Data Saturation ◽

The Individual ◽

Descriptive Qualitative

BACKGROUND Recovery in mental health remains inconclusive where the two most prevailing definitions “clinical” and “personal” remain. In nursing schools, students are predominantly taught straightforward concepts of clinical recovery, which result in only a perfunctory and rudimentary understanding of recovery among the undergraduates. AIMS To explore the perceptions of nursing undergraduates on recovery for people experiencing mental health conditions. METHOD A descriptive qualitative study was conducted on 14 nursing undergraduates from Years 1 to 4 of the study. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling, and the required sample size was determined by data saturation. Semistructured questions were used during the individual face-to-face interviews from October and December 2019. Recordings were transcribed verbatim; the transcripts were then subjected to thematic analysis. RESULTS Three themes were identified to support the research questions: (1) semantics of major terms used in mental health care—where participants provided the description of terminologies used; (2) the meaning of recovery—where participants explained their views on “recovery”; and (3) sources of conceptualization—where participants explained their conceptual understanding on mental health conditions and recovery. CONCLUSION The findings suggest that the need for a more holistic approach encompassing personal recovery should be included in the nursing curriculum. This is necessary to promote enabling support in the recovery of people experiencing mental health conditions beyond medical interventions.

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