Longitudinal outcomes of a work inclusion program in mental health departments in the city of Milan.

Abstract

Work functioning impairment is a key diagnostic and prognostic criterion in patients with psychiatric disorders and work inclusion is a major goal of their therapeutic pathway. Since 2009, the Regional Innovative Program (PIR) TR106, promoted by ASST Fatebenefratelli-Sacco of Milan in collaboration with other Departments of Mental Health and Addictions (DSMDs) in the town of Milan (Italy), has been developing the employment inclusion of psychiatric patients. The objective of this study is to evaluate its outcomes over 8 years of observation. We reported the results of a retrospective epidemiologic analysis on 2,142 interventions on 1,066 patients recruited, investigating PIR TR106 outcomes per year focusing on different subgroups. We focused on 'positive', 'negative', and 'other' outcomes. We preliminary calculated job maintenance interventions (5%, 107) and excluded these interventions from the overall. We observed 29 job firing (1.4%) and 15 job resignations (0.7%) as negative results (equal to 2.2% of the total) and 388 job hiring (16.6%), 647 traineeships (31.8%), and 413 work formation (20.3%) as positive outcomes (equal to 68.75%). In other outcomes (29.1%) we found 305 dismissals from PIR TR 106 (15%) and transitory outcomes (14.1%).Job hiring increased from 8.9% in 2012 to 23.8 % in 2019 (p < .001), while the dismissals diminished from 26.7% to 13.3% (p < .001). The effectiveness of traineeships in terms of job hiring increased in the ratio of annual job hiring versus job traineeship (+48.8%). The majority of hired patients (15.1%) were affected by a psychotic disorder. A significant hiring increase was observed in patients with psychotic disorders and personality disorders (p < .005). PIR-TR106 represents a territorial employment inclusion program with progressively increasing effectiveness and specificity, as suggested by changes in outcomes during the 8-year observation. The adaptive capacity and sustainability of the intervention are worth further investigation.