Implementing evidence-based supported employment in Sussex for people with severe mental illness
Author(s)
van Veggel, Rhonda
Waghorn, Geoffrey
Dias, Shannon
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2015
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Introduction: The aim of this research was to evaluate a large-scale implementation of evidence-based supported employment for
people with severe mental illness, at 17 locations throughout Sussex, England.
Method: A parallel group observational design was used to evaluate an implementation of the individual placement and support
approach to supported employment. Three sites provided both a comparison pre-individual placement and support cohort
(n ¼ 140), and a new post-individual placement and support cohort (n ¼ 107) as part of the individual placement and support
implementation (n ¼ 446). All individual placement and support ...
View more >Introduction: The aim of this research was to evaluate a large-scale implementation of evidence-based supported employment for people with severe mental illness, at 17 locations throughout Sussex, England. Method: A parallel group observational design was used to evaluate an implementation of the individual placement and support approach to supported employment. Three sites provided both a comparison pre-individual placement and support cohort (n ¼ 140), and a new post-individual placement and support cohort (n ¼ 107) as part of the individual placement and support implementation (n ¼ 446). All individual placement and support sites involved community mental health teams forming partnerships with Southdown Supported Employment to co-locate an employment specialist into each mental health team. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants commencing competitive employment during the follow-up period. Results: The new individual placement and support sites attained higher fidelity with respect to individual placement and support principles and practices (mean 97 of 125) than the pre-individual placement and support sites (mean 77 of 125). Significantly more individual placement and support participants commenced competitive employment than pre-individual placement and support participants (24.9% vs 14.3%). Individual placement and support participants experienced less delay before commencing their first job (153 vs 371 days), and when employed, worked more hours per week (24.3 vs 15.4 hours). Conclusion: This implementation of individual placement and support in Sussex improved on the previous vocational services. Although progress is encouraging there is much room for improvement. More resources appear needed to support programme development, specifically to strengthen site-level management, training, technical support, fidelity assessment, programme monitoring, and outcome evaluation.
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View more >Introduction: The aim of this research was to evaluate a large-scale implementation of evidence-based supported employment for people with severe mental illness, at 17 locations throughout Sussex, England. Method: A parallel group observational design was used to evaluate an implementation of the individual placement and support approach to supported employment. Three sites provided both a comparison pre-individual placement and support cohort (n ¼ 140), and a new post-individual placement and support cohort (n ¼ 107) as part of the individual placement and support implementation (n ¼ 446). All individual placement and support sites involved community mental health teams forming partnerships with Southdown Supported Employment to co-locate an employment specialist into each mental health team. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants commencing competitive employment during the follow-up period. Results: The new individual placement and support sites attained higher fidelity with respect to individual placement and support principles and practices (mean 97 of 125) than the pre-individual placement and support sites (mean 77 of 125). Significantly more individual placement and support participants commenced competitive employment than pre-individual placement and support participants (24.9% vs 14.3%). Individual placement and support participants experienced less delay before commencing their first job (153 vs 371 days), and when employed, worked more hours per week (24.3 vs 15.4 hours). Conclusion: This implementation of individual placement and support in Sussex improved on the previous vocational services. Although progress is encouraging there is much room for improvement. More resources appear needed to support programme development, specifically to strengthen site-level management, training, technical support, fidelity assessment, programme monitoring, and outcome evaluation.
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Journal Title
British Journal of Occupational Therapy
Volume
78
Issue
5
Subject
Clinical sciences
Clinical sciences not elsewhere classified