Effects of supported employment on vocational rehabilitation for schizophrenia patients:a randomized controlled study / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of supported employment(SE) on the vocational rehabilitation for schizophrenic rehabilitants.Methods 108 schizophrenic rehabilitants with stable conditions were recruited and randomly allocated into the control group and experimental group.Fifty-four cases in the control group received the general outpatient service and follow-up service with drug maintenance therapy and 54 cases in the experimental group received SE with drug maintenance therapy.At the baseline and the end of the sixth month,all of the 108 cases were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Work-related Social Skills Scale (WSSS) respectively.The competitive employment rate and average working days of the two groups were evaluated at the end of the sixth month.Results There was no significant difference in the total score of WSSS,and the total score of PANSS and its sub-scores on the Positive Scale,Negative Scale and General Psychopathological Scale betweeu the two groups at the baseline(P＞ 0.05).At the cnd of the sixth months,significant differences (P＜0.01 ～ 0.05) were found in the total score of WSSS,the sub-score of the Negative Scale,the competitive employment rate and the average working days((35.11 ± 12.71) d vs(20.15 ± 8.04) d) between the experimental and control groups.Conclusion SE can increase the employment rate of schizophrenic rehabilitants,improve their abilities to acquire and maintain competitive employment,and meanwhile relieve their negative symptoms.