JOB TERMINATIONS AMONG PERSONS WITH SEVERE MENTAL-ILLNESS PARTICIPATING IN SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT

For persons with psychiatric disabilities, maintaining a job is often more difficult than acquiring a job. A large proportion of jobs end un satisfactorily. This study explored job terminations among 63 persons with severe mental illness who participated in competitive jobs throug h supported employment programs. More than half of the job termination s were unsatisfactory, defined as the client quitting without having o ther job plans or being fired. Baseline ratings of demographic and cli nical characteristics, preemployment skills training, and early rating s of job satisfaction and work environment did not predict unsatisfact ory terminations. Clients with better work histories were less likely to experience unsatisfactory terminations. In addition, unsatisfactory terminations were associated retrospectively with multiple problems o n the job that were related to interpersonal functioning, mental illne ss, dissatisfaction with jobs, quality of work, medical illnesses, dep endability, and substance abuse. These results suggest that supported employment programs need to address job maintenance with interventions that identify and address different types of difficulties as they ari se on the job.