Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Importance of Work as Compared to Other Forms of Daily Occupations for Wellbeing and Functioning Among Persons with Long-Term Mental Illness

  • Published:
Community Mental Health Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study investigated the importance of competitive work as compared to participating in community-based activities and having no regular daily activity for people with long-term mental illness. One hundred and three persons visiting an outpatient unit and representing the three targeted occupational conditions were randomized to the study and assessed on satisfaction with daily occupations, health, and wellbeing. Persons with work were more satisfied with their daily occupations and were interviewer-rated as better functioning than the other groups, but the groups did not differ on self-ratings of health and wellbeing. Unexpectedly, people participating in community-based activities did not show better satisfaction or functioning than those without regular daily activity. It was concluded that competitive work should be an urgent end goal for services designed for occupational or vocational support.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the mystery of health. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky, A. (1993). The structure and properties of the sense of coherence scale. Social Science and Medicine, 36, 725–733.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aubin, G., Hachey, R., & Mercier, C. (1999). Meaning of daily activities and subjective quality of life in people with severe mental illness. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 6, 53–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bejerholm, U. & Eklund, M. (2004). Time-use and occupational performance among persons with schizophrenia. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 20(1), 27–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, M. D., Lysaker, P. H., & Milstein, R. M. (1996). Clinical benefits of paid work in schizo-phrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22, 51–67.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, M. D., Milstein, R. M., & Lysaker, P. H. (1993). Pay as an incentive in work participation by patients with severe mental illness. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 44, 684–686.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bengtsson-Tops. & A. Hansson, L. (2001). The validity of Antonovsky's sense of coherence concept in a sample of individuals with schizophrenia living in the community. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 33, 432–438.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bjorner, J. B., Kristensen, T. S., Orth-Gomér, K., Tibblin, G., Sullivan, & Westerholm, P. (1996). Self-rated health. A useful concept in research, prevention and clinical medicine. For-skningsrå dsnämnden [Swedish council for planning and coordination of research]. Report 96:9.

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1998). Living well. The psychology of everyday life. London: Phoenix.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eklund, M., Hansson, L., & Bejerholm, U. (2001). Relationships between satisfaction with occupational factors and health-related variables in schizophrenia outpatients. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 36, 79–85.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Endicott, J., Spitzer, R. L., Fleiss, J. L., & Cohen, J. (1976). The global assessment scale. A procedure for measuring overall severity of psychiatric disturbance. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 766–771.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Friis, S., Melle, I., Opjordsmoen, S., & Retterstøl, N. (1993). Global Assessment Scale and Health-Sickness Rating Scale: Problems in comparing the global functioning scores across investigations. Psychotherapy Research, 3, 105–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gahnström-Strandqvist, K., Liukko, A., & Tham, K. (2003). The meaning of the working cooperative for persons with long-term mental illness: A phenomenological study. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 57, 262–272.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, L., Svensson, B., & Björkman, T. (1998). Quality of life of the mentally ill. Reliability of the Swedish version of the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile. European Psychiatry, 13, 231–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolakowska, T. (1976). BPRS. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langius, A. & Björvell, H. (1993). Coping ability and functional status in a Swedish population sample. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 7, 3–10.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langius, A., Björvell, H., & Antonovsky, A. (1992). The sense of coherence concept and its relation to personality traits in Swedish samples. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 6, 165–171.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Law, M., Steinwender, S., & Leclair, L. (1998). Occupation, health and well-being. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65,81–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, G. N. & Lang, E. L. (1990). Optimism, self-mastery, and symptoms of depression in women professionals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 132–139.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McGurk, S. R. & Meltzer, H. Y. (1999). The role of cognition in vocational training in schizo-phrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 45, 175–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (1992). Välfärd och valfrihet-service, stöd och va°rd för psykiskt störda [Welfare and freedom of choice—service, support, and care for the mentally ill]. SOU 1992:73. Stockholm: Socialdepartementet [The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs].

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueser, K. T., Becker, D. R., Torrey, W. C., Xie, H., Bond, G. R., Drake, R. E., & Dain, B. J. (1997). Work and nonvocational domains of functioning in persons with severe mental illness: A longitudinal analysis. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 185, 419–426.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nagle, S., Valiant Cook, J., & Polatajko, H. J. (2002). I'm doing as much as I can: Occupational choices of persons with a severe and persistent mental illness. Journal of Occupational Science, 9, 72–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Board of Health and Welfare (1998). The first thousand days of the Swedish mental health care reform. English summary in: Reformens första tusen dagar. A Arsrapport för psy-kiatrireformen 1998 [The reform's first thousand days. Annual report for the Mental Health Care Reform 1998] (pp. 188–197). Stockholm: The National Board of Health and Welfare.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, J., Huxley, P., Bridges, K., & Mohamad, H. (1996). Quality of life and mental health services. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orrell, M., Yard, P., Handysides, J., & Schapira, R. (1999). Validity and reliability of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales in psychiatric patients in the community. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 174, 409–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearlin, L. I., Menaghan, E. G., Lieberman, M. A., & Mullan, J. T. (1981). The stress process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 337-356.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Priebe, S., Huxley, P., Knight, S., & Evans, S. (1999). Application and results of the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA). The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 45, 7–12.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Priebe, S., Warner, R., Hubschmid, T., & Eckle, I. (1998). Employment, attitudes towards work, and quality of life among people with schizophrenia in three countries. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 24, 469–477.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Provencher, H. L., Gregg, R., Mead, S., & Mueser, K. T. (2002). The role of work in the recovery of persons with psychiatric disabilities. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 26, 132–144.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, E. S., Anthony, W. A., Cohen, M., & Davies, R. R. (1997). Prediction of vocational outcome based on clinical and demographic indicators among vocationally ready clients. Community Mental Health Journal, 33, 99–112.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggeri, M., Leese, M., Thornicroft, G., Bisoffi, G., & Tansella, M. (2000). Definition and preva-lence of severe and persistent mental illness. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 177, 149–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheid, T. L. (1993). An investigation of work and unemployment among psychiatric clients. International Journal of Health Services, 23, 763–782.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strong, S. (1998). Meaningful work in supportive environments: Experiences with the recovery process. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 52, 31–38.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dongen, C. J. (1996). Quality of life and self-esteem in working and nonworking persons with mental illness. Community Mental Health Journal, 32, 535–548.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ware, J. E. & Sherbourne, C. D. (1992). The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), I. Medical Care, 30, 473–481.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weeder, T. C. (1986). Comparison of temporal patterns and meaningfulness of the daily activities of schizophrenic and normal adults. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 6(4), 27–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (1993). The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders. Geneva: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilcock, A. A., van der Arend, H., Darling, K., Scholz, J., Siddall, R., Snigg, C., & Stephens, J. (1998). An exploratory study of people's perceptions and experiences of wellbeing. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61, 75–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wing, J. K., Beevor, A. S., Curtis, R. H., Park, S. B., Hadden, S., & Burns, A. (1998). Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS). Research and development. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 172, 11–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zemke, R. & Clark, F. (Eds.) (1996). Occupational science: The evolving discipline. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis. Mona Eklund

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Occupational Therapy, Lund University, P.O. Box 157, Lund SE-221 00, Sweden;

    Mona Eklund

  2. Department of Nursing, Lund University, Sweden

    Lars Hansson

  3. Lund University Hospital, Sweden

    Carin Ahlqvist

Authors
  1. Mona Eklund
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lars Hansson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Carin Ahlqvist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Eklund, M., Hansson, L. & Ahlqvist, C. The Importance of Work as Compared to Other Forms of Daily Occupations for Wellbeing and Functioning Among Persons with Long-Term Mental Illness. Community Ment Health J 40, 465–477 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COMH.0000040659.19844.c2

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COMH.0000040659.19844.c2

Search

Navigation