The social support, mental health, psychiatric symptoms, and functioning of persons with schizophrenia participating in peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation: a pilot study in Taiwan
Background: Vocational peer support (VPS) services are recovery-oriented interventions in modern psychiatric care for persons with schizophrenia. However, few VPS services are found in currently psychiatric care in Taiwan. Hence, a pilot program of peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation to support persons with schizophrenia in Taiwan was proposed and evaluated.
Methods: Six peers were trained and were willing to co-lead and assist workplace problem-solving groups and care skills training in an extended vocational rehabilitation program from August 2017 to December 2018. The social support, mental health, psychiatric symptoms, and functioning of service users were assessed before and after peer co-delivered services, and the assessments were based on the following: Social Support Scale (SSS), Chinese Health Questionnaire-12 (CHQ-12), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Global Assessment of Function (GAF), and the Chinese version of the Social Functioning Scale (C-SFS).
Results: The recruited 46 service users were mostly middle-aged (49.1 ± 9.8), with 27 being male (58.7%). After interventions, forty-two service users who completed the program had a significantly increased SSS score (149.1 ± 31.8 vs. 161.2 ± 35.0, df = 41, t = 2.70, p = 0.01) and subscale of friend-peer dimension (44.4 ± 12.0 vs. 53.2 ± 13.2, df= 41, t = 4.72, p < 0.001). The objective (GAF: 69.8 ± 9.8 vs. 72.6 ± 8.8, df = 41, t = 3.50, p = 0.001) and subjective social functional scores (C-SFS: 75.2 ± 8.8 vs. 78.1 ± 9.5, df = 41, t = 2.59, p = 0.01) both significantly increased. The weekly wage elevated significantly (37.5 ± 35.5 vs. 43.6 ± 38.0, df = 41, t = 2.57, p = 0.01) and the BPRS-18 score decreased significantly, too (31.2 ± 6.7 vs. 29.3 ± 5.0, df = 41, t = -2.83, p = 0.007).
Conclusions: Peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation services can enhance the social support received by persons with schizophrenia and improve their occupational function (as evidenced in wage increases). The pilot program proposed can thus be a model for non-Western countries with limited resources allocated from the government to support persons with schizophrenia.
Posted 13 Jan, 2021
On 27 Dec, 2020
On 27 Dec, 2020
On 27 Dec, 2020
On 29 Nov, 2020
Received 23 Nov, 2020
On 08 Nov, 2020
On 14 Sep, 2020
Received 13 Sep, 2020
On 23 Aug, 2020
Invitations sent on 14 Aug, 2020
On 06 Aug, 2020
On 30 Jul, 2020
On 29 Jul, 2020
On 28 Jul, 2020
The social support, mental health, psychiatric symptoms, and functioning of persons with schizophrenia participating in peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation: a pilot study in Taiwan
Posted 13 Jan, 2021
On 27 Dec, 2020
On 27 Dec, 2020
On 27 Dec, 2020
On 29 Nov, 2020
Received 23 Nov, 2020
On 08 Nov, 2020
On 14 Sep, 2020
Received 13 Sep, 2020
On 23 Aug, 2020
Invitations sent on 14 Aug, 2020
On 06 Aug, 2020
On 30 Jul, 2020
On 29 Jul, 2020
On 28 Jul, 2020
Background: Vocational peer support (VPS) services are recovery-oriented interventions in modern psychiatric care for persons with schizophrenia. However, few VPS services are found in currently psychiatric care in Taiwan. Hence, a pilot program of peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation to support persons with schizophrenia in Taiwan was proposed and evaluated.
Methods: Six peers were trained and were willing to co-lead and assist workplace problem-solving groups and care skills training in an extended vocational rehabilitation program from August 2017 to December 2018. The social support, mental health, psychiatric symptoms, and functioning of service users were assessed before and after peer co-delivered services, and the assessments were based on the following: Social Support Scale (SSS), Chinese Health Questionnaire-12 (CHQ-12), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Global Assessment of Function (GAF), and the Chinese version of the Social Functioning Scale (C-SFS).
Results: The recruited 46 service users were mostly middle-aged (49.1 ± 9.8), with 27 being male (58.7%). After interventions, forty-two service users who completed the program had a significantly increased SSS score (149.1 ± 31.8 vs. 161.2 ± 35.0, df = 41, t = 2.70, p = 0.01) and subscale of friend-peer dimension (44.4 ± 12.0 vs. 53.2 ± 13.2, df= 41, t = 4.72, p < 0.001). The objective (GAF: 69.8 ± 9.8 vs. 72.6 ± 8.8, df = 41, t = 3.50, p = 0.001) and subjective social functional scores (C-SFS: 75.2 ± 8.8 vs. 78.1 ± 9.5, df = 41, t = 2.59, p = 0.01) both significantly increased. The weekly wage elevated significantly (37.5 ± 35.5 vs. 43.6 ± 38.0, df = 41, t = 2.57, p = 0.01) and the BPRS-18 score decreased significantly, too (31.2 ± 6.7 vs. 29.3 ± 5.0, df = 41, t = -2.83, p = 0.007).
Conclusions: Peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation services can enhance the social support received by persons with schizophrenia and improve their occupational function (as evidenced in wage increases). The pilot program proposed can thus be a model for non-Western countries with limited resources allocated from the government to support persons with schizophrenia.