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Employment status, aspirations and perceptions of support amongst psychiatric service users in Pavia, Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2011

Irene Cirillo ,
Pierluigi Politi ,
Elisa Rampi ,
Jenny Secker ,
Franca Brasia  and
Anna Severino
Irene Cirillo
Affiliation:
School of Specialisation in Psychiatry, University of Pavia, Pavia
Pierluigi Politi
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Health Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia
Elisa Rampi
Affiliation:
School of Specialisation in Psychiatry, University of Pavia, Pavia
Jenny Secker*
Affiliation:
South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust &, Anglia Ruskin University
Franca Brasia
Affiliation:
Service User Researcher
Anna Severino
Affiliation:
Service User Researcher
*
Address for correspondence:Professor J. Secker, Anglia Ruskin University, William Harvey Building, Bishop Hall Lane, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1SQ (United Kingdom) Fax: +44(0)-1245-684571 E-mail: jenny.secker@anglia.ac.uk
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Summary

Aims – To describe the employment status of people using mental health service in Pavia, Italy; to explore their employment aspirations and perceptions of support to achieve these; and to test the feasibility of working with service users as researchers. Method – Face to face interviews carried out by two service user researchers with a consecutive sample of 200 service users attending the local psychiatric outpatient department using a translated version of a questionnaire developed for previous UK surveys. Results – A higher proportion of survey participants (42.5%) were in paid work compared to the UK, but 62.4% of those in work were dissatisfied with their employment. Amongst unemployed participants, 65.2% were interested in gaining employment but only 29.3% were receiving support to do so. Support was mainly limited to referral on to a generic disability organisation. The service user researchers carried out the survey to a high standard and reported benefits from undertaking the work. Conclusions – The results indicate a need in Pavia for specialist employment support using the Individual Placement and Support approach. Further development of service user involvement in research is indicated.

Keywords

mental healthemploymentservice user research
Type
Original Articles
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 40 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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