Addressing the vocational needs of people with severe mental illness (SMI) is a critical component of several models of community-based treatment, and recent research has underscored the importance of vocational activity for enhancing quality of life among this population. However, employment rates among people with SMI have remained quite low. This study addresses: (1) the extent to which vocational issues are a service priority among case managers who serve adults with SMI and (2) case managers' beliefs about the challenges, drawbacks, and benefits of clients' vocational activities.
370 case managers (81% response rate) completed self-administered questionnaires that measured beliefs about the extent to which case managers should focus on certain client outcomes. Upon completion of the survey data collection, project staff observed six regularly scheduled team meetings for 20 case management teams. Observations were documented through detailed field notes, and coded and analyzed using NUDIST software. Factor analysis of the survey data suggests that case manager beliefs about the importance of pursuing client employment outcomes are not well-integrated into their ideologies of care and are not strongly endorsed. Analysis of the qualitative data provides some insight as to why case managers do not give more priority to client vocational issues. Reservations or misgivings about client employment that emerged from the observational data include: client is too impaired to work; client employment is an obstacle to accomplishing other things with (or for) clients; and client employment is an impediment to recovery. Implications of these findings for case management practice will be discussed.
Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this presentation, participants will be able to: (1) describe the extent to which case managers make client vocational issues a service priority, and (2) identify case managers' beliefs that contribute to low prioritization of vocational issues.
Keywords: Sever Mental Illness, Case Management
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.