[Trial employment: a provisional work setting for psychiatric patients].

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates the effects of probationary work for psychiatric patients in community-based small businesses during their inpatient or day care.

METHODS

Patients were evaluated for working capacity, psychopathology, motivation for work and patient satisfaction (n = 69).

RESULTS

The results confirm a high degree of acceptance of this approach as well as significant improvements on various clinical scales such as the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF), choice reaction time (Wiener Determinationsgerät, WDG), attention (Revisionstest) and self-rating of work-relevant skills.

CONCLUSIONS

This approach, with its complex demand characteristics, may be an effective alternative to occupational therapy, at least for small therapeutic units.