IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v11y2021i3p21582440211033558.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Work Experiences and Challenges to Employment Sustainability for People With Mental Illness in Supported Employment Programs

Author

Listed:
  • Janki Shankar
  • Lun Li
  • Shawn Tan

Abstract

Supported employment (SE) is an evidence-based program that has shown much promise in helping people with severe mental illnesses (SMIs) to gain and sustain competitive employment. However, there are significant variations in employment outcomes across SE programs in Canada that can be partly explained by SE service users’ experiences in their work environment. The work environment can exert a considerable influence on the interest in and ability to sustain the employment of a person with an SMI. This study explores the work experiences of individuals with SMIs who are involved in an SE program and who understand the challenges of and barriers to sustaining such employment. Semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 individuals with SMIs, and the data were analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Challenges to the employment sustainability of an individual with SMI were found to arise primarily from three intersecting contexts: the SE program, the work environment, and the larger Canadian labor market. The findings suggest that SE programs will better promote employment sustainability if they adhere closely to individual placement and support model of SE. SE service providers (employment specialists) must be equipped with a wide range of knowledge and skills to meet the needs of individuals with SMIs if sustainable employment is to be achieved. It is recommended that there must be investment in training for employment specialists to assist SE service users to achieve sustainable employment outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Janki Shankar & Lun Li & Shawn Tan, 2021. "Work Experiences and Challenges to Employment Sustainability for People With Mental Illness in Supported Employment Programs," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:21582440211033558
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440211033558
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440211033558
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440211033558?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Menear, Matthew & Reinharz, Daniel & Corbière, Marc & Houle, Nathalie & Lanctôt, Nathalie & Goering, Paula & Goldner, Elliot M. & Kirsh, Bonnie & Lecomte, Tania, 2011. "Organizational analysis of Canadian supported employment programs for people with psychiatric disabilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(7), pages 1028-1035, April.
    2. Anonymous, 2014. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 1-2, May.
    3. Moscone, F. & Tosetti, E. & Vittadini, G., 2016. "The impact of precarious employment on mental health: The case of Italy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 86-95.
    4. Donna A. Gaffney & Rosanna F. DeMarco & Anne Hofmeyer & Judith A. Vessey & Wendy C. Budin, 2012. "Making Things Right: Nurses' Experiences with Workplace Bullying—A Grounded Theory," Nursing Research and Practice, Hindawi, vol. 2012, pages 1-10, April.
    5. Janki Shankar & Lili Liu & David Nicholas & Sharon Warren & Daniel Lai & Shawn Tan & Rosslynn Zulla & Jennifer Couture & Alexandra Sears, 2014. "Employers’ Perspectives on Hiring and Accommodating Workers With Mental Illness," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(3), pages 21582440145, August.
    6. Anonymous, 2014. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 109-110, August.
    7. Nanna Mik-Meyer, 2016. "Disability and ‘care’: managers, employees and colleagues with impairments negotiating the social order of disability," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(6), pages 984-999, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    2. Eunae Yoo & Elliot Rabinovich & Bin Gu, 2020. "The Growth of Follower Networks on Social Media Platforms for Humanitarian Operations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(12), pages 2696-2715, December.
    3. Ya Sun & Gongyuan Wang & Haiying Feng, 2021. "Linguistic Studies on Social Media: A Bibliometric Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, September.
    4. Winskell, Kate & Sabben, Gaëlle, 2016. "Sexual stigma and symbolic violence experienced, enacted, and counteracted in young Africans’ writing about same-sex attraction," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 143-150.
    5. Shisong Jiang, 2021. "“When Paradigms Are Out of Place”: Embracing Eclecticism in Legal Scholarship by Academic Turns," Laws, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Houshmand Masoumi, 2021. "Residential Location Choice in Istanbul, Tehran, and Cairo: The Importance of Commuting to Work," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Tanja Lepistö & Tiina Mäkitalo-Keinonen & Tiina Valjakka, 0. "Opportunity recognition in a hub-governed network – insights from garage services," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-24.
    8. Holbig, Heike, 2015. "The Plasticity of Regions: A Social Sciences–Cultural Studies Dialogue on Asia-Related Area Studies," GIGA Working Papers 267, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    9. Wagner, Sebastian & Brandt, Tobias & Neumann, Dirk, 2016. "In free float: Developing Business Analytics support for carsharing providers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 59(PA), pages 4-14.
    10. Peterson K. Ozili, 2020. "Does competence of central bank governors influence financial stability?," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, December.
    11. Andrea Pieroni & Roman Hovsepyan & Ajmal K. Manduzai & Renata Sõukand, 2021. "Wild food plants traditionally gathered in central Armenia: archaic ingredients or future sustainable foods?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 2358-2381, February.
    12. Willems, Kim & Smolders, Annelien & Brengman, Malaika & Luyten, Kris & Schöning, Johannes, 2017. "The path-to-purchase is paved with digital opportunities: An inventory of shopper-oriented retail technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 228-242.
    13. Jean, Ruey Jer “Bryan” & Kim, Daekwan & Bello, Daniel C., 2017. "Relationship-based product innovations: Evidence from the global supply chain," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 127-140.
    14. Kassens-Noor, Eva & Cai, Meng & Kotval-Karamchandani, Zeenat & Decaminada, Travis, 2021. "Autonomous vehicles and mobility for people with special needs," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 385-397.
    15. Simeone, Luca & Secundo, Giustina & Schiuma, Giovanni, 2017. "Adopting a design approach to translate needs and interests of stakeholders in academic entrepreneurship: The MIT Senseable City Lab case," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 64, pages 58-67.
    16. Diana Tsoy & Danijela Godinic & Qingyan Tong & Bojan Obrenovic & Akmal Khudaykulov & Konstantin Kurpayanidi, 2022. "Impact of Social Media, Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) on the Intention to Stay at Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-32, June.
    17. Piotr Żuk & Paweł Żuk, 2018. "Offshoring, labour migration and neo-liberalisation: nationalist responses and alternatives in Eastern Europe," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 29(1), pages 97-117, March.
    18. Knudsen, Eirik Sjåholm, 2019. "Bad weather ahead: Pre-recession characteristics and the severity of recession impact," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 118-130.
    19. Hajdas, Monika & Radomska, Joanna & Silva, Susana C., 2022. "The omni-channel approach: A utopia for companies?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    20. Eickelpasch, Alexander & Hirte, Georg & Stephan, Andreas, 2016. "Firms' Evaluation of Location Quality: Evidence from East Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 236(2), pages 241-273.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:21582440211033558. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.