Employment in urban, stable schizophrenia patients

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Schizophrenia is a severe disorder with a chronic, lifelong evolution. All domains of schizophrenia symptoms (positive, negative, cognitive) are associated with severe disability and low functionality. Being part of the active work field could have benefits for these patients in both quality of life and functionality, unfortunately the employment rate in schizophrenia is rather low. It is crucial that we identify factors associated with unemployment in order to apply prompt interventions. METHOD This research was conducted between 01.10.2010-01.10.2012 in The ”Alexandru Obregia” Clinical Psychiatry Hospital, Bucharest, Romania, and it included stable schizophrenia patients. Out of these we selected only the patients who were living in urban areas. Symptom severity was assessed through the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS). Demographic, social and occupational characteristics were collected and presented using descriptive statistics. Categorial data was analyzed using Chi-square test and continuous variables were analyzed using Mann-Whitney test. Statistical significance was considered for p values below .05. RESULTS A sample of 95 patients with schizophrenia, coming from urban areas were included in the study. Their ages ranged between 19 and 60 years, with a mean age of 40.2 years (SD 10.37). Seventeen (17.9%) patients were working at the moment of inclusion. There was a higher proportion of patients - 77 (81.1%) that has previously worked and 39 (49.4%) have worked for more than 5 years. Despite this, there were 62 (80.6%) that have been unemployed for more than 1 year. The current employment status was significantly associated with age and number of admissions and was not influenced by symptom severity (as measured through PANSS). CONCLUSIONS There was a very low number of stable schizophrenia patients currently employed. However, during their lifetime numerous schizophrenia patients previously held a job. This emphasizes the need for early intervention in these patients in order to maintain them in the active work field.