Clinicians' attitudes to the employment of people with psychosis

Background: Negative staff attitudes have been cited as a factor in explaining the low rates of employment in people with psychosis. We aimed to conduct the first systematic survey of staff attitudes in UK community mental health teams. Methods: A questionnaire survey of clinicians working in community mental health teams in North London, UK. Results: Clinicians believed that many more people with psychosis were capable of working than were actually doing so. Nevertheless they believed that about two thirds of their caseloads were either incapable of working or able only to do voluntary or sheltered work. The work roles they saw as suitable tended to be ones requiring lower levels of technical skills. Clinicians saw helping people get back to work as a core part of their role, but felt they had little relevant training and limited confidence in the vocational services currently available for their clients. Conclusions: In this London catchment area, clinicians believed the majority of people with psychosis to be capable of some kind of work, albeit not always open market, but they had few resources available to them to facilitate this. They give priority to the development of place and support vocational services.