by icia icia

Objectives:
promoting the access to work for persons who are disadvantaged because of severe mental illness;
assessing the influence of cognitive and social rehabilitation over finding a job, over hospitalization rate and over quality of life indicators;
promoting social inclusion;

OBJECTIVES
  • promoting the access to work for persons who are disadvantaged because of severe mental illness;
  • assessing the influence of cognitive and social rehabilitation over finding a job, over hospitalization rate and over quality of life indicators;
  • promoting social inclusion;
  • fighting discrimination and social exclusion by means that sustain and complete the national strategies and policies regulating employment;
  • raising the visibility of Romanian research in promoting advanced techniques destined to ensure the basis for participation in the European consortium.
DESCRIPTION The current European context regarding social policies promotes the equal access for disadvantaged persons to programs for initial and continuous education. In this respect, persons with mental impairments are receiving a great deal of attention. In Romania, persons with mental impairments didn’t have any truly professional insertion so far. Psychotic illnesses are today a real mental health problem, with bipolar disorder reaching 2.5% of the population and 1% for schizophrenia, respectively (Venken and co., 2005). Mental illnesses are not just reaching higher rates, but they also are an important source of disability. Measured in years lived with disability and premature death (DALY), mental conditions represented 13% of all the illnesses from 2001 (Kohn and co. 2003). Approximately 33% from the total years lived in disability is due to mental health conditions. Unlike somatic illnesses, psychological illnesses represent a source of disturbance for the microsocial group (familial, professional) where the subjects live. The direct costs, but especially the indirect costs of psychological illnesses, affect the budget of health services, and directly place a burden on the patients and their group. At least 250000 Romanian persons have a severe mental health problem. Persons with psychological disturbances rarely have a positive experience at their workplace. The employment rate only rarely reaches 11% in this group. At the same time, there is a rise in the number of persons with mental problems who benefit from illness-pension. This, in turn, puts a burden on the budget for Social Welfare and contributes to the failure of integration social policies. In spite of these statistical data, many persons would still like to work and this could be an opportunity for psycho-social rehabilitation. When a person with a serious mental health is trying to get a job, he or she must overcome a series of obstacles. These could be located at the level of the patient (such as the lack of vocational experience and cognitive disabilities), at the level of the potential employer (stigmatization) or at level of the mental health services (poor offer of social and vocational rehabilitation).
This study aims to reveal which are the factors that block the access on the labor-market of the persons with severe mental health problems and to conceive a model for cognitive and social rehabilitation for these in order to ensure their real social integration.
RESULTS ESTIMATED
  • study protocols;
  • formulated psychopathometrical and cognitive battery of tests;
  • psychopathometrical scales applied in various stages;
  • interview guide for patients and potential employers;
  • questionnaire regarding the social distance from the persons suffering from mental illness;
  • cognitive rehabilitation program;
  • social rehabilitation program;
  • manuals for cognitive and social rehabilitation;
  • articles;
  • communications;
  • round table;
  • web page;
  • CD-presentation;
  • PC7 proposal.
RESULTS OBTAINED
Other Informations
Attached documents: