Impact of Covid-19 restrictions on individual placement and support service delivery in northern Norway

Wittlund, Sina, Butenko, Daniil, Brandseth, Oda Lekve, Brinchmann, Beate, Killackey, Eóin, McDaid, David ORCID: 0000-0003-0744-2664, Rinaldi, Miles and Mykletun, Arnstein (2022) Impact of Covid-19 restrictions on individual placement and support service delivery in northern Norway. Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health. ISSN 2198-9834

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Abstract

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an evidence-based supported employment program that helps people with severe mental illness to achieve steady, meaningful employment in competitive mainstream jobs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on IPS service delivery in Northern Norway between March and October 2020. In Norway, IPS is in the early stages of full-scale implementation and is therefore potentially sensitive to external stressors such as the Covid-19 pandemic. In October 2020 we conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional survey with IPS employment specialists in Northern Norway (n = 25). The purpose was to collect information about how Covid-19 restrictions between March and October 2020 impacted their ability to deliver IPS services. As a result of Covid-19 restrictions, more than half the employment specialists were reassigned to other roles or non-IPS related work tasks. They also reported less collaborative engagement with clinical teams and employers. 69 (20.4%) of IPS users supported by employment specialists gained employment after the Covid-19 restrictions were introduced and 82.8% of unemployed IPS users continued to seek competitive employment despite Covid-19 restrictions. Covid-19 restrictions appear to have created obstacles for IPS service delivery in Northern Norway and have negatively impacted the employment specialists' collaborative engagement with clinical teams. However, IPS employment specialists have shown strong capabilities in overcoming these challenges and services users have remained motivated to seek employment during the pandemic.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.springer.com/journal/40737
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Authors
Divisions:	Personal Social Services Research Unit
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Date Deposited:	28 Sep 2022 15:33
Last Modified:	27 Jul 2024 05:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/116692

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