Biomaterial Database

Supported employment specialist strategies to assist clients with severe mental illness and criminal justice issues. 2009

Rob Whitley, and Kristin M Kostick, and Philip W Bush

Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, 2 Whipple Pl., Suite 202, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA. rob.whitley@dartmouth.edu

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to document and analyze common strategies used by supported employment specialists to overcome criminal justice issues among clients with severe mental illness. METHODS Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with a group of 22 supported employment specialists and their supervisors. Interviews were open ended and supplemented by ethnographic observation. Data were examined thematically by content analysis. RESULTS Assisting clients with past and present criminal histories to find employment was confirmed as one of the hardest self-identified challenges for employment specialists. Three specific strategies commonly used by specialists for this subpopulation are documented and analyzed. These include taking an incremental approach with clients vis-à-vis obtaining work and career advancement, using a strengths-based model that emphasizes the client's strong points, and focusing the job search on "mom and pop" businesses that typically do not conduct background checks or do not have rigid recruitment policies. Enacting these strategies led to some deviation from the individualized placement and support model of supported employment. Participants noted that they felt most challenged when attempting to serve and assist clients with sex offenses. CONCLUSIONS The findings imply that specialists are challenged when dealing with clients with criminal justice issues and use several approaches to overcome these challenges. Current specialist training may be deficient in preparing staff to effectively serve people with criminal justice issues. Further research should assess the efficacy of the approaches outlined in this article to give more guidance to specialists working with clients with criminal justice issues.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007586	Job Application	Process of applying for employment. It includes written application for employment or personal appearance.	Employment Application,Resume, Job,Application, Employment,Application, Job,Applications, Employment,Applications, Job,Employment Applications,Job Applications,Job Resume,Job Resumes,Resumes, Job
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D009042	Motivation	Those factors which cause an organism to behave or act in either a goal-seeking or satisfying manner. They may be influenced by physiological drives or by external stimuli.	Incentives,Disincentives,Expectations,Disincentive,Expectation,Incentive,Motivations
D010560	Personnel Selection	The process of choosing employees for specific types of employment. The concept includes recruitment.	Employee Recruitment,Employee Selection,Personnel Recruitment,Recruitment Activities,Activity, Recruitment,Employee Recruitments,Personnel Recruitments,Recruitment Activity,Recruitment, Employee,Recruitment, Personnel,Selection, Employee,Selection, Personnel
D010565	Persuasive Communication	A mode of communication concerned with inducing or urging the adoption of certain beliefs, theories, or lines of action by others.	Persuasion,Communication, Persuasive
D011329	Prisoners	Persons deprived of their liberty; those held is against their will, or who are kept in confinement or custody.	Detained Persons,Hostages,Imprisoned Individuals,Incarcerated Individuals,Inmates,Detained Person,Hostage,Imprisoned Individual,Incarcerated Individual,Individual, Imprisoned,Individual, Incarcerated,Inmate,Person, Detained,Prisoner
D011618	Psychotic Disorders	Disorders in which there is a loss of ego boundaries or a gross impairment in reality testing with delusions or prominent hallucinations. (From DSM-IV, 1994)	Psychoses,Psychosis, Brief Reactive,Schizoaffective Disorder,Schizophreniform Disorders,Psychosis,Brief Reactive Psychoses,Brief Reactive Psychosis,Disorder, Psychotic,Disorder, Schizoaffective,Disorder, Schizophreniform,Disorders, Psychotic,Disorders, Schizoaffective,Disorders, Schizophreniform,Psychoses, Brief Reactive,Psychotic Disorder,Reactive Psychoses, Brief,Reactive Psychosis, Brief,Schizoaffective Disorders,Schizophreniform Disorder
D012042	Registries	The systems and processes involved in the establishment, support, management, and operation of registers, e.g., disease registers.	Parish Registers,Population Register,Parish Register,Population Registers,Register, Parish,Register, Population,Registers, Parish,Registers, Population,Registry
D003416	Criminal Law	A branch of law that defines criminal offenses, regulates the apprehension, charging and trial of suspected persons, and fixes the penalties and modes of treatment applicable to convicted offenders.	Criminal Justice,Criminal Laws,Justice, Criminal,Law, Criminal,Laws, Criminal