Work Reintegration for Veterans With Mental Disorders: A Systematic Literature Review to Inform Research

Til, Linda Van; Fikretoglu, Deniz; Pranger, Tina; Patten, Scott B.; Wang, JianLi; Wong, May; Zamorski, Mark A.; Loisel, Patrick; Corbière, Marc; Shields, Norman; Thompson, James M.; Pedlar, David

doi:10.2522/ptj.20120156

Cited by 22 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Individuals with severe mental illnesses including bipolar and major depressive disorders, and schizophrenia as well as military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experience disabling symptoms that hinder their vocational outcomes (1, 2). Although approximately 60% of individuals receiving mental health services want to work and may actively seek employment (3, 4), they have low employment rates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Job Offers to Individuals With Severe Mental Illness After Participation in Virtual Reality Job Interview Training

Smith¹,

Fleming²,

Wright³

et al. 2015

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Objective Individuals with severe mental illness have low employment rates and the job interview presents a critical barrier for them to obtain competitive employment. Prior randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicated virtual reality job interview training (VR-JIT) improved job interviewing skills among trainees. The current study assessed whether VR-JIT participation was associated with greater odds of receiving job offers upon 6-month follow-up. Methods VR-JIT trainees (n=39) and a comparison group (n=12) completed a brief survey approximately 6 months after finishing the RCTs to assess the efficacy of VR-JIT. Primary vocational outcome measures included receiving a job offer and number of weeks searching for employment. Results A higher proportion of trainees received a job offer than comparison participants (51% (n=20) vs. 25% (n=3), respectively). Trainees were more likely to receive a job offer than comparison participants (odds ratio=9.64, p<.05) after accounting for cognition, recency of last job, and diagnosis. Among trainees, there were greater odds of receiving a job offer for each completed VR-JIT trial (odds ratio=1.41, p<.05) and a greater number of completed VR-JIT trials predicted fewer weeks searching for employment (β=−.74, p<.05). Conclusions Results provide preliminary support that VR-JIT is a promising intervention associated with enhanced vocational outcomes among individuals with severe mental illness. Given that participants had minimal access to standardized vocational services, future research could evaluate the effectiveness of VR-JIT among individuals with and without access to standardized vocational services as well as evaluate strategies to implement VR-JIT within a large community mental health service provider.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Job Offers to Individuals With Severe Mental Illness After Participation in Virtual Reality Job Interview Training

Smith¹,

Fleming²,

Wright³

et al. 2015

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“…Job re-entry is particularly challenging for Veterans with psychiatric diagnoses (VanTil et al, 2012), particularly for those who also have substance use problems (Burnett-Zeigler et al, 2012). In response to difficulties finding or holding a job, a Veteran with a psychiatric condition may apply for service-connection disability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Veterans' attitudes toward work and disability compensation: Associations with substance abuse

Meshberg‐Cohen

Reid‐Quiñones

Black

et al. 2014

Addictive Behaviors

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Introduction-Veterans deemed disabled for conditions resulting from, or aggravated by, their service in the military are eligible for service-connected disability payments. Despite many positive effects of disability payments, one concern is that Veterans with psychiatric conditions who receive disability payments are less likely to be employed compared to those who are denied benefits. Little is known about the attitudes of substance using Veterans, for whom work is a particularly important part of recovery, toward work and disability compensation.Methods-This study compared the responses of Veterans with (n=33) and without substance use problems (n=51) to questions about work's significance and its relationship to disability payments. T-and chi-square tests were conducted to determine if Veterans with substance use problems differed from the others on work-related attitudes and perceptions of the relation between work and Veterans' benefits.

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“…Americans have gone to and returned from war with a multitude of physical and psychological traumas and readjustment challenges, a recent review of the work reintegration literature concluded that there is "limited knowledge about how to reintegrate people with mental disorders" (Van Til, Fikretoglu, Pranger, Patten, Wang, Wong et al, 2013). Thus, the role of the civilian work domain in shaping posttraumatic stress symptoms ("PTSS") is an underexplored area ripe for investigation by social scientists and occupational health practitioners motivated to improve the long neglected health, economic stability, and lifelong well-being of veterans entering, reentering, or returning to work, their families, and society.…”

Section: List Of Tablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other substantive questions related to the potential impacts of larger organizational influences within America's district forms of military cultures (e.g., air, sea, and land) and varying forms of civilian work organization (i.e., public, private, public-private) or civilian occupations (e.g., blue vs. white collar) were not investigated. As no unified theory of military-to-civilian work reintegration presently exists (e.g., Schultz, Chlebak, & Stewart, 2016;Van Til et al, 2013) this thesis study applied an integrated theoretical approach. Prior industrial, organizational, clinical and biopsychosocial theories, as well as scholarly military and occupational health perspectives and findings on "stressorstrain relationships" among military veterans and civilian workers in high-risk occupations informed conceptual distinctions and predicted associations among focal variables of interest.…”

Section: List Of Tablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While useful for identifying those with preexisting vulnerabilities for illness under adverse environmental conditions, Stress-Diathesis Theory is limited by an emphasis on individual and genetic liabilities that do not explain how mental illness impacts other functional domains over the lifespan as may be exhibited by iso-strain situations predictive of "stress-related disorders" (Nieuwenhuijsen et al, 2010) à la delayed onset PTSD (e.g., Smid et al, 2009). Though research is still vague on which specific civilian work conditions, job characteristics, and individual factors may adversely affect core PTSD symptoms among veteran employees and other workers in high-risk occupations (e.g., EMTs), and therefore compromise their healthy adaptation to the civilian workforce, what is known about the phenomena of reintegration among prior cohorts, such as before and after Vietnam, is that healthy reintegration includes successful adaptation to the workplace (Van Til et al, 2013).…”

Section: Key Concepts Of Proposed Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Combat Experiences, Iso-strain, and Sleep Quality Affect Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress among Working Post-9/11 Veterans

Brady¹

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Despite the growing need, prior research on how the civilian work domain may affect posttraumatic stress is scarce. Moreover, few if any studies have investigated how perceptions of one's job and insomnia may shape traumatic stress symptoms, postcombat. Presently, about 4 million Americans have served in the "Global War on Terrorism," including nearly 1 million reservists. By contrast, 8.7 million Americans served in the Vietnam War: over twice the number of U.S. military personnel who have fought since 9/11. Surprisingly, combat experiences alone do not explain the majority of posttraumatic stress disorder cases, even after multiple deployments, suggesting the presence of moderators of the stressor-strain conceptual model. Based in occupational stress theories of allostatic load, job demands-resources, strain, and social support, this thesis applied frequentist and Bayesian analytical strategies to investigate the psychological experiences and occupational health of three subgroups of combat veterans. In the present study, sleep quality and a job situation characterized by isolated, demanding civilian work with low decision authority (i.e., "iso-strain") were hypothesized to moderate the effect of combat experiences on posttraumatic stress. As part of the larger SERVe project, survey data were collected among a baseline sample (N=382) of post-9/11 veterans living in the Pacific Northwest. The research question of whether greater perceived psychosocial stressors among active reservists driving that group's higher self-reported levels of poor sleep, iso-strain, and posttraumatic stress was unfounded. Overall, however, the central Additionally, I would like to thank my academic mentors Drs.

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Work Reintegration for Veterans With Mental Disorders: A Systematic Literature Review to Inform Research

Cited by 22 publications

References 60 publications

Job Offers to Individuals With Severe Mental Illness After Participation in Virtual Reality Job Interview Training

Job Offers to Individuals With Severe Mental Illness After Participation in Virtual Reality Job Interview Training

Veterans' attitudes toward work and disability compensation: Associations with substance abuse

Combat Experiences, Iso-strain, and Sleep Quality Affect Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress among Working Post-9/11 Veterans

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