Job Retention and Career Development for People with Serious Mental Illness: A Participatory Capacity Building Project
Creators: Thomas, Elizabethmary
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2023

<p>Introduction: People with serious mental illness (PSMI) are capable and willing to contribute meaningfully to the workforce. However, a vast majority experience employment marginalization and hazardous work environments due to the stigma that portrays them as incapable or dangerous. Current support measures for PSMI in employment lack ongoing support, hindering their ability to address work-related challenges effectively. In contrast, PSMI have described peer support as an excellent source of time-unlimited support, as it operates on a reciprocal basis and is helpful for both acquiring and maintaining employment. Our research employs participatory action research (PAR) to harness its transformative benefits for PSMI. The benefits include fostering a collective consciousness among participants regarding the problem and a collective effort to discover relevant solutions.<br>
Objectives: This participatory action research (PAR) project aimed at empowering PSMI to co-develop a peer-support network focused on building their repertoire as valued employees and identifying and managing challenges in achieving longer tenure and career advancement. <br>
Methods: Ten PSMI as the co-researchers met weekly for ten consecutive weeks. Using a PAR approach, they collaboratively engaged in the steps in the action research cycle, including problem identification, planning, taking action, and evaluation of the action. Having identified the stigma of mental illness as the main problem influencing their job acquisition and maintenance, they collaboratively developed an educational resource as their first action step to reduce mental health stigma. There were two other action steps: collaboration with two like-minded organizations and the construction of a peer-led website that would serve as a hub of employment resources for peers and employers. The data gathered included recorded PAR sessions, group-developed materials, and the researcher’s reflective notes. We utilized thematic analysis and generated our preliminary findings, which were then confirmed through member checking to ensure they accurately reflected the collective experience of our co-researchers.<br>
Findings: The findings of our research were described in two parts. Firstly, we described how engaging in PAR impacted our co-researchers. The group experienced transformative benefits of the PAR process, culminating in a peer support network, as we collaboratively engaged in three steps of the action research cycle. The development of a sustained partnership with our co-researchers is a novel contribution to the field, and our success in this area is due to the time we invested in establishing relationships, facilitating genuine power-sharing, and promoting peer support.  Secondly, we described the factors that influenced our co-researchers’ experiences at work. We used the Person-Environment-Occupation model as a framework to guide our understanding of the dynamic intersections among environmental, work-related, and personal factors that influenced our co-researchers’ experiences of job acquisition and maintenance. <br>
Conclusion: Through this research, we demonstrated the power of PSMI and their efforts to advocate their concerns of career advancement. Our focus on building a sustainable partnership with our co-researchers and our findings regarding a framework to conceptualize factors that influence job retention in PSMI were novel contributions to the field. These findings point to a poignant need to combat the stigma of mental illness and promote inclusive workplaces for PSMI. Additionally, we drew attention to the power imbalance inherent in the workplace that creates opportunities for employers to leverage their power to create psychologically safe work environments. This work not only shed light on the complexities surrounding job retention for PSMI but also offered a blueprint for peer support as an intervention.</p>