Factors Influencing Occupational Engagement in Day Centers for People with Psychiatric Disabilities

Abstract

Background: Occupational engagement is a vital factor in people's lives since it has been

Perceived social status among people with psychiatric disabilities attending work-oriented and meeting place-oriented day centers

“…This concurs with the review by Kraus et al (1), which concluded that a contextbound high status can not only generate psychological effects in terms of more autonomy but also the feeling of being in control. Self-mastery has in turn shown a relationship with occupational engagement among day center attendees (19) and, interestingly, a new finding in the current study is social status showed a relationship with occupational engagement in the univariate analyses. Occupational engagement has to our knowledge not been explored previously in relation to social status.…”

“…On the other hand, day centers engender positive experiences for the target group (9,14,15), which could be of importance for perceived social status. They can open up a social world for people who otherwise may lead a passive life in the home environment (16)(17)(18) with time spent in a day center found to be associated with occupational engagement (19). Occupational engagement is defined here as the degree to which an individual is able to be part of a broader social context and is engaged in personally meaningful activities that can create routines and a balanced everyday life (20).…”

“…(1) further maintained that perceiving to be at the upper end of a social status continuum increases feelings of control, implying that control and status may mutually reinforce each 6 other. Engagement in day center activities has been shown to be associated with a degree of control over one's life situation (19,20). So, if day center attendees experience low social status then they may feel less in control, and possibly be less engaged in occupations.…”

“…Self-esteem is another factor that has been maintained as being influenced by day center activities (14,19) and can be of relevance for perceived social status. The review by Kraus et al…”

The Occupational Transition Process to Upper Secondary School, Further Education and/or Work in Sweden: As Described by Young Adults with Asperger Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

“…This finding is in contrast to the concerns raised by The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (2008) about the “lock-in effects” of day centres, whereby those who come to day centres tend to remain there without transitioning to paid employment. Similarly, earlier studies have highlighted the need for day centres to provide channels to jobs on the open labour market through collaboration with local businesses and the surrounding community beyond the day centres in order to facilitate engagement in employment in the open labour market (Eklund and Sandlund 2014; Eklund and Tjörnstrand 2013; Tjörnstrand et al 2015). Findings also showed that participants with AS or ADHD with experience of occupational transition to university and employment in the regular labour market described community-based day centres as being far away from the labour market, even if they received individual placements in a regular workplace.…”