[Relationship between illness, rehabilitation and work (ZERA)--an training program for medical-vocational rehabilitation of the mentally ill].

A training programme for rehabilitation of people with mental illness is presented, designed particularly for schizophrenic patients who need occupational rehabilitation. The training goal is to connect aspects of the schizophrenic disorder with vocational issues. It is aimed at supporting the participants in developing a realistic and appropriate vocational perspective in line with their illness related restrictions and current vocational possibilities, seeking to find out the individual's optimal ability to take stress so as to avoid over- or understimulation in vocational respects. The ZERA training has been developed for implementation in different medical and vocational rehabilitation settings for persons with mental illness. An initial control-group study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of this group training approach, and preliminary results have revealed changes in the experimental group in accordance with the objectives of the training and encourage further research.