Background
A consensual understanding of the effect of vocational peer support (VPS) on the functioning of persons with schizophrenia still eludes researchers. There are also few VPS services found in non-Western countries. Hence, a pilot program of peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation to support persons with schizophrenia in Taiwan was proposed and evaluated.
Methods
Six peers were trained and were willing to co-lead and assist workplace problem-solving and care skills training in an extended vocational rehabilitation program. A total of 46 persons with schizophrenia participated in such services from August 2017 to December 2018. The social support, mental health, psychiatric symptoms, and functioning of service users were assessed before and after peer co-delivered services, based on the following: Social Support Scale (SSS), Chinese Health Questionnaire-12 (CHQ-12), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Global Assessment of Function (GAF), and the Chinese version of the Social Functioning Scale (C-SFS).
Results
Most service users were middle-aged (49.1 ± 9.8), with 27 being male (58.7%). Forty-two service users who completed the program scored as follows before and after the intervention: 149.1 ± 31.8 vs. 161.2 ± 35.0, df = 41, t = 2.70, p = 0.01 (total SSS), and 44.4 ± 12.0 vs. 53.2 ± 13.2, df = 41, t = 4.72, p < 0.001 (subscale of friend-peer dimension); 69.8 ± 9.8 vs. 72.6 ± 8.8, df = 41, t = 3.50, p = 0.001 (GAF); 75.2 ± 8.8 vs. 78.1 ± 9.5, df = 41, t = 2.59, p = 0.01 (C-SFS); and 37.5 ± 35.5 vs. 43.6 ± 38.0, df = 41, t = 2.57, p = 0.01 (weekly wage). The BPRS-18 score decreased significantly after the intervention (31.2 ± 6.7 vs. 29.3 ± 5.0, df = 41, t = -2.83, p = 0.007).
Conclusions
Peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation services can enhance the social support received by persons with schizophrenia and improve their occupational function (as evidenced in the wage increase). The pilot program proposed can thus be a model for non-Western countries with limited resources allocated from the government to support persons with schizophrenia.