Empowerment promotion through competitive employment for people with psychiatric disabilities

BACKGROUND: Despite ample research about empowerment or supported employment in the mental health field, research about people with psychiatric disabilities in competitive employment and its impact on personal empowerment using standardized measurements needs to be expanded. OBJECTIVE: This study examined if competitive employment contributes to a positive impact on personal empowerment among 55 people with psychiatric disabilities who participate in community based mental health organizations. METHODS: The current sample was created from a larger study with the purpose of obtaining a homogenous set of participants based on the employment status criteria. Participants filled out the Portuguese version of the empowerment scale and hierarchical regression analysis was used to study if participants' employment status was a predictor of personal empowerment. RESULTS: The conducted analyses demonstrated that competitive employment was related to higher levels of empowerment, and that the empowerment dimension of power-based interpersonal relationships was significantly associated with being at work. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that addressing consumers' working needs through supported employment services has the potential to enhance consumers' personal empowerment and improve community life.