scholarly journals Vocational Service Models and Approaches to Improve Job Tenure of People With Severe and Enduring Mental Illness: A Narrative Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin McDowell ◽  
Priscilla Ennals ◽  
Ellie Fossey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Job Retention ◽  
Job Tenure ◽  
Personal Recovery ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Service Models ◽  
Employment Specialist

Employment is a valued occupation that offers a sense of meaning, identity, and belonging. For people with severe and enduring mental illness, employment has also been associated with personal recovery and decreased use of mental health services. However, this population continues to be underrepresented in the labor market. Sustainable employment is often challenging for people with severe and enduring mental illness, due to a combination of personal, organizational and systemic issues. While Individual Placement and Support is an evidence-based model of employment support known to improve job attainment for people with mental illness, job retention and sustained workforce participation continue to be challenges. This narrative literature review was undertaken to address the question: “What vocational service models and approaches improve job tenure for this population?” CinAHL, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library were searched for the period 2005–2020, using key terms and subject headings, including “severe mental illness,” “psychiatric disabilit*,” “job tenure,” and “job retention.” Several adjunct interventions may enhance job retention, including skills training, cognitive interventions, psychological interventions, and supported education, while social firms offer a different approach focused on creating new, sustainable job opportunities. Peer support and support from family and friends also appear to be important, and emerging evidence suggests that employment specialist practices, technology, self-management, and workplace accommodations may each also influence job tenure. Service providers could make more use of these non-clinical vocational approaches to improve employment retention for people with severe and enduring mental illness.

scholarly journals Voting and mental illness: the silent constituency

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 225-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. D. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
Voter Registration ◽  
The Political ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Political Spectrum

Mental illness has been long associated with denial of certain human rights, social exclusion and political disempowerment. Too often, the effects of adverse social, economic and political circumstances, along with stigma, constitute a form of ‘structural violence’, which impairs access to psychiatric and social services, and amplifies the effects of mental illness in the lives of sufferers and their families. Existing literature indicates that voting rates are low among people with mental illness and, whereas voting preferences in the mentally ill may tend towards the liberal end of the political spectrum, they do not differ dramatically from the overall population. Rates of voting could be improved by mental health service users, service providers, advocacy services and others through (a) improved awareness of voting rights; (b) provision of information, especially to inpatients; (c) assessments of voting capacity, where indicated, using standardised, well-proven tools; and (d) pro-active voter-registration programmes.

Innovative Technology-Based Interventions to Reduce Stigma Toward People With Mental Illness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matías E. Rodríguez-Rivas ◽  
Adolfo J. Cangas ◽  
Laura A. Cariola ◽  
Jorge J. Varela ◽  
Sara Valdebenito
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Public Stigma ◽  
People With Mental Illness

BACKGROUND Stigma towards people with mental illness presents serious consequences for the affected individuals, such as social exclusion and increased difficulties in the recovery process. Recently, several interventions have been developed to mitigate public stigma, based on the use of innovative technologies, such as virtual reality and video games. OBJECTIVE To systematically review, synthesize, measure, and critically discuss experimental studies that measure the effect of technological interventions and on stigmatization levels. METHODS This systematic review and meta-analysis was based on PRISMA guidelines, and included studies in English and Spanish published during the years 2016 and 2021. Searches were run in five different databases (i.e., Pubmed, PsycInfo, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Science Direct). Only randomized controlled trials were included. Two independent reviewers determined the eligibility, extracted data, and rated methodological quality of the studies. Meta-analyses were performed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. RESULTS Based on the 1,158 articles screened, 72 articles were evaluated as full text, of which 9 articles were included in the qualitative and quantitative synthesis. A diversity of interventions was observed, including video games, audiovisual simulation of hallucinations, virtual reality, and electronic contact with mental health services users. The meta-analysis (n= 1,832 participants) demonstrated that these interventions had a consistent medium effect on reducing the level of public stigma (d=–0.64 95% CI 0.31-0.96; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS Innovative interventions involving the use of technologies are an effective tool in stigma reduction, therefore new challenges are proposed and discussed for the demonstration of their adaptability to different contexts and countries, thus leading to their massification.

Fear and Distrust Within the Canadian Welfare System: Experiences of People With Mental Illness

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 216-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Gewurtz ◽  
Pamela Lahey ◽  
Katie Cook ◽  
Bonnie Kirsh ◽  
Rosemary Lysaght ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
System A ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Constant Change ◽  
Trusting Relationships ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Impact

While experiences of fear and distrust have been documented as a part of recipients’ interactions with disability benefits, there have been few attempts to explore how they are shaped by system features and their impact on employment pursuits. The purpose of this article is to unpack how fear and distrust emerge among people with mental illness who have recently entered the welfare system. Using an interpretative qualitative approach, the authors draw on the findings from 69 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders about their experiences with employment. Stakeholders included recipients, welfare program and policy staff, and service providers in the community. Data were analyzed by exploring similarities and differences across perspectives and contexts. The findings highlight how system features shape and perpetuate fear and distrust through poorly communicating information about the system, a chaotic state of constant change and complexity, a lack of attention to building trusting relationships between caseworkers and recipients, ongoing system errors, and excessive reporting requirements. The impact of the current state of affairs is significantly harmful to recipients, especially those living with mental illness. Our findings also highlight a possible way forward by building trusting relationships and finding ways to improve communication channels.

The Ontario Disability Support Program Work Exit Process: Parallels to a Hostage Negotiation

2020 ◽  
pp. 104420732094460
Author(s):  
Pamela Lahey ◽  
Bonnie Kirsh ◽  
Emile Tompa ◽  
Joy MacDermid ◽  
Rebecca E. Gewurtz
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Support Program ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Income Support ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Disability Support ◽  
Disability Income

There is a lack of empirical data on the experiences of people with mental illness (PMI) who transition from welfare to work, or how policy programs are designed to facilitate this outcome. We explore the factors that facilitate or hinder PMI from exiting disability income support programs in Ontario, Canada. Drawing on a grounded theory approach, we examine the process of exiting the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with current and former recipients with mental illness, service providers who support current and former recipients, and ministry staff. A metaphor for the work exit process emerged with four embedded themes: (a) picking yourself back up, (b) breaking the rules to get ahead, (c) stabilizing illness for employment success, and (d) displaying resiliency and resourcefulness for successful exits. The main finding is that system supports are not the determining factors in a successful transition. Rather, participants describe how recipients exit for employment by leveraging personal resources to successfully transition off income support benefits. A system redesign is needed to address the inherent tension between social and health programs if the policy intent is to promote successful welfare-to-work transitions for PMI.

scholarly journals Recovery narratives: 'see how far i've come'

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Weingarten ◽  
Maria E. Restrepo-Toro
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health System ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Mental Health System ◽  
Personal Recovery ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
College Class ◽  
The Media ◽  
Recovery Narratives

As the paradigm shift towards a recovery-oriented mental health system becomes more prominent, individuals with lived experience of mental illness will continue to write and speak their narratives of mental illness and recovery. This article discusses the social reality of people with mental illness: how they are stigmatized by the media and how competing narratives within the mental health system afflict people with this disability. It also discusses the empowering process of constructing a narrative that enables the narrator/speaker to find meaning in her/his experience while putting a realistic 'face' on mental illness and recovery for the general public. It further describes how telling a narrative to diverse audiences, including a college class of 'people in recovery' enhances the author's personal recovery by giving his life new meaning and purpose.

scholarly journals Establishing views of traditional healers and biomedical practitioners on collaboration in mental health care in Zanzibar: a qualitative pilot study

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay Solera-Deuchar ◽  
Mahmoud I. Mussa ◽  
Suleiman A. Ali ◽  
Haji J. Haji ◽  
Peter McGovern
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Traditional Healers ◽  
The Other ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Biomedical Practitioners ◽  
Two Sectors

Abstract Background This qualitative pilot study aimed to establish views of traditional and biomedical practitioners towards collaboration between the two sectors on the treatment of people with mental illness in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Methods Six traditional healers (known as “waganga” in Swahili) and six nurses working in government secondary mental health services were invited to participate in a series of focus group discussions (FGDs). Two sets of FGDs took place approximately seven weeks apart. In each set, FGDs were conducted with traditional healers only, nurses only, and finally nurses and traditional healers together. FGDs were conducted in Swahili, audio-recorded and then translated to English by an independent translator and coded thematically using NVivo software. Results All participants expressed that they were in favour of collaboration between traditional and biomedical practitioners on mental healthcare. Opinions varied regarding what form this collaboration should take. For many nurses and healers, there was acknowledgement of the role of the other group in providing treatment for people with mental illness, with support for the idea of bi-directional referrals between the two sectors. For some nurses, the value of collaboration would be purely in the education of traditional healers in the recognition of mental illness, with subsequent referral to biomedical services. For some traditional healers, the idea of collaboration seemed to appeal in part because of a perceived opportunity to learn additional skills from biomedical practitioners. Both categories of participant expressed a belief that patients possessed by a jinn (a spirit) or those that had been bewitched needed treatment by traditional healers. On the other hand, those with what participants considered to be “mental illness” needed treatment at the hospital clinic. However, some nurses felt that that traditional healers might be able to provide helpful treatment for mental illness, as well as those suspected to be affected by jinn or witchcraft. There was agreement on the need to establish clear referral pathways between the two service providers. The creation of an office for traditional healers at the hospital was an area where there was disagreement among participants. Conclusions We conclude that there is a positive view of collaboration among traditional healers and nurses who participated, and a willingness to work towards actual collaboration. The results suggest that views vary as to what form this collaboration should take, with opinions differing between nurses, as well as between traditional healers. Additional work is needed in order to further explore the nature of potential collaboration and extend the research to the wider population of traditional and biomedical practitioners in Zanzibar, to include primary health care workers.

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