The role of psychiatric symptoms in the pursuit of community rehabilitation goals

38^th International Conference on Nursing & Healthcare

October 16-18, 2017 | New York, USA

William Waynor and Joni Dolce

Rutgers University School of Health Professions, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Psychiatric symptoms and recent psychiatric hospitalization are conceived as barriers to rehabilitation goals such as community employment. Psychiatric symptoms provide an indication of impairment caused by psychiatric illness and a number of studies have reported outcome data regarding the impact of psychiatric symptoms on employment outcomes. Although the symptom measures of the outcome variables are not identical, there is a clear trend in the research indicating an inverse relationship between psychiatric symptoms and employment for persons with serious mental illnesses. Despite several research findings that indicated psychiatric symptoms are a barrier to employment, these findings are not universal, as some studies have failed to find any relationship. Currently, in the community mental health field an evidence based rehabilitation program supported employment was designed to work with individuals living with serious mental illnesses. A brief description of supported employment and research findings of the relationship between psychiatric symptoms and the achievement of employment outcomes in supported employment will be presented.