Psychosocial and vocational impact of an internship program for people diagnosed with severe mental illnesses

Unemployment is an obstacle in recovery for people with severe mental illnesses (SMI), both in reducing psychopathological symptoms and in achieving a high quality of life. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of an internship program for people diagnosed with SMI on psychosocial variables using a pre-test and post-test design.

Four scales were administered to a sample of 127 study participants, all of whom were diagnosed with SMI. The results of standard and sheltered employment outcomes were obtained by comparing the number and type of contracts gained by participants up to one year after program completion. A repeated measures ANOVA analysis was carried out with intervention being an independent intra-subject variable and type of participant diagnosis being a between-subjects variable.

A limited increase in social functioning was found, as well as a significant decrease in psychiatric distress for users diagnosed with personality disorders. Participants in the internship program obtained a greater number of employment contracts than their peers who did not participate in the program, albeit with a low effect size.

Though results were positive, extension of internship length and provision of more intensive counselling for participants may be useful.