Improving Integration of Mentally Burdened Young Adults in the Labour Market
Condition: Mental Disorder
MeSH terms: Mental Disorders
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Young adults who do not successfully transition from compulsory education to upper secondary
      level are at increased risk of developing mental illness, as compared with their working
      peers. The causality is unclear: they are either unable to find a job due to a pre-existing
      mental illness, or their failure in finding a job has contributed to the mental illness.

      The Zurich University of Applied Sciences has developed an innovative intervention that
      includes psychotherapeutic support in a work integration programme. Recognising and treating
      mental illness early increases the chances of a successful transition to the labour market.
    

Detailed description: 
      Unemployed young people with severe psychological impairments often find no training or
      workplace, despite the support of various existing services. Many of these young people
      suffer from a mental illness, but they are often neither diagnosed nor treated. In
      Switzerland, this is reflected in the increasing number of young people who receive a
      disability pension. To make matters worse, young people often do not use the necessary
      psychotherapeutic treatment. An explanation for this may be the fear of being stigmatized or
      the lack of insight that help is needed al all. A group of researchers has analyzed the
      dossiers of 400 young people who were given a disability pension 2010 and 2013 due to mental
      problems. They have found that the consultation often took place before the 23rd year of age
      and in 84% of the cases whole disability pensions were given. In the analysed cases only 14%
      had completed vocational training. The authors propose various measures, including
      prioritizing the completion of a professional apprenticeship, a systematic interdisciplinary
      assessment, a joint, longer-lasting integration management, as well as early detection and
      intervention in psychological disorders in school and vocational training. Our intervention
      meets these requirements. Together with lifetime health, a provider work working integrations
      programs, we have developed a low-threshold psychotherapeutic offer in addition to the
      existing work integration program. With this intervention we hope to reach the following
      goals. First: Facilitate the transition into a professional apprenticeship by increasing work
      ability and other variables. Secondly, the integration and cooperation of a psychotherapist
      in the work integration program allows for a systematic interdisciplinary assessment; third,
      the support of a psychotherapist offers a joint, longer-lasting integration management.
    

Intervention name(s): Weekly group meeting w/psychotherapist
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Introduce a Psychotherapist in a work Integration program to further support Young adults in Job search and at the same time offering psychotherapeutic counselling. The participants will have a weekly meeting lasting 1.5 hour and additionally the can have 5 private counselling sessions with the psychotherapist if they wish
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment