Caregivers' Perspectives on Reasonable Accommodation for Persons with Severe Mental Disorders at the Workplace

Reasonable accommodation (RA) refers to adjustments or modifications that an employer makes to the workplace to enable an employee with a mental illness to perform the essential functions of their job. Employer and employee should work together to determine the most beneficial accommodations that would not impose an undue hardship on the employer.

An exploratory study design with a purposive sampling technique was used in the current study. Ten in-depth interviews have been conducted with the caregivers (CGs) of persons with severe mental disorders (SMDs).

The CGs' mean age is 55 years. The data have been collected from November 2022 to January 2023. Out of ten CGs, three were female and seven were male. The content analysis of CG interview transcripts suggests that persons with SMD lost or discontinued their jobs due to leaves, lack of peer support/supervision, more targets, shift work, discrimination at the workplace, and lower salaries. The CGs opined that the RAs for persons with SMD are adjustments in the work environment, policy, or procedure modifications that enable the individual to perform their job, allowing them to work from home.

RAs for persons with SMDs are essential from the CGs' perspective. RA for persons with SMD at work can promote their job continuation and social support.