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Jobs and Computers

Information technology training for long-term day hospital patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Maurice Lipsedge ,
Angela B. Summerfield ,
G. Lazzari  and
M. van Beeston
Maurice Lipsedge
Affiliation:
Guy's Hospital, London
Angela B. Summerfield
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College, University of London
G. Lazzari
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College and Honorary Student Psychologist, Guy's Hospital
M. van Beeston
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College and Honorary Student Psychologist, Guy's Hospital
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This is a report on a project which offers long-term day hospital patients a training which will lead to paid employment on the open market. Lack of work compounds the low self-esteem of chronic psychiatric patients. They experience multiple disadvantages, including loss of status, purpose, personal identity, social contacts outside the family, and a time structure to the day. Many of these disadvantages are known to be experienced by unemployed people in the general population. In most surveys, a fifth of the unemployed report a deterioration in their mental health since being unemployed, with an increased frequency of deterioration proportional to length of time without work. Work enhances self-esteem by decreasing the degree of dependency and by allowing identification with non-patients and may influence perceived locus of control. Work provides social participation and is ‘a visible measure of normality’ for former patients.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , March 1987 , pp. 84
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987

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