Predictors of on-site vocational support for people with schizophrenia in supported employment

This study examined predictors of intensity of vocational specialist support for clients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder in supported employment. Sixty-nine outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were recruited from a community mental health center for 12 months of vocational and cognitive rehabilitation. Neuropsychological test scores, symptom ratings, illness severity, and employment history were used to predict vocational support intensity, expressed as hours coached in ratio to total hours worked over 12 months for each client. Weekly work hours were inversely correlated with intensity of vocational support. Half of the sample averaged 10 to 40 h of work per week and received significantly lower proportions of on-site job coaching than the lowest quartile, which averaged 2 to 5 h of work per week. Regressions predicting support intensity from neuropsychological composite scores, educational/vocational, and hospitalization history were not significant. Significant regressions included PANSS, SANS, and SAPS subscales, after which individual symptoms responsible for explained variance were isolated. SANS social inattention and PANSS active avoidance together predicted 23% of the variance in support intensity. A one-way ANOVA comparing work participation quartiles on these symptoms revealed significantly higher levels of active avoidance and social inattention for participants working less than 10 h per week. A profile emerged of the high intensity client as a socially inattentive or avoidant individual requiring a limited work schedule. Results suggest that these clients require more specialist contact because of failure to adequately engage natural supports at work.