One of the goals of early intervention services for psychosis (often called EIP) is to help clients to recover fully. Services can include helping them find and hold a job after they have been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder, facilitating their return to school, or promoting long-term career planning. When people receiving EIP services are not financially secure, they often rely on government disability income. While this income can help them deal with the financial burdens of mental illness, it can also discourage them from seeking or keeping a job and other career development activities. To find out the extent to which people who receive EIP services seek government assistance, researchers tracked 558 individuals over the first five years of their involvement with EIP. What they found is that after the first year, 30 per cent of people had applied for disability income, and more than 60 per cent of clients will apply for government support within five years of entering EIP services.
Hospitalization and financial dependence on others were major predictors if a person would apply for government income. Another predictor was whether they were engaged in some form of productive activity (such as work, school, parenting) when they first started receiving EIP services.
To get the full story, read EENet’s Research Snapshot of the article, “Early Intervention Services for Psychosis and Time Until Application for Disability Income Support: A Survival Analysis.” This article, by Terry Krupa and others, was published in Community Mental Health Journal, vol. 48, no. 5 (2012): 535-46. You can read the Research Snapshot on the EENet website.
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