Psychiatric Disability and Social and Work Inclusion: Limits and Opportunities. Paths of Approach to Work in a Centro Diurno in Rome

Abstract

Social and work inclusion go hand in hand. Through work the individual can combat exclusion, increase his relationships, network and improve his levels of empowerment and self-efficacy. It is demonstrably clear that contributing to a work environment is important for everyone in society and in particular for people with mental disabilities who often remain outside the labor market. Mental health interventions often include the dimension of a kind of job placement in the patient's path to recovery both in a therapeutic and rehabilitative perspective. Our study started from those considerations. We suggested that the observation of a specific context, a Centro Diurno, was needed in order to investigate which job training paths had been proposed to users, in which areas they were carried out and how they ended. Our survey led us to conclude that these job training paths – despite the difficulties of some patients (experience interruptions) and other problems which can't be attributed to the patients (lack of resources) – tended to have positive outcomes, particularly where the attendance by patients had been constant and active.