Gilbert Eleanor, Marwaha Steven, Milton Alyssa, Johnson Sonia, Morant Nicola, Parsons Nicholas, Fisher Adrian, Singh Swaran, Cunliffe Di
BMC Health Serv Res. 2013 Jul 11;13:270. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-270.
Employment is associated with better quality of life and wellbeing in people with mental illness. Unemployment is associated with greater levels of psychological illness and is viewed as a core part of the social exclusion faced by people with mental illness. Social Firms offer paid employment to people with mental illness but are under-investigated in the UK. The aims of this phase of the Social Firms A Route to Recovery (SoFARR) project were to describe the availability and spread of Social Firms across the UK, to outline the range of opportunities Social Firms offer people with severe mental illness and to understand the extent to which they are employed within these firms.
A UK national survey of Social Firms, other social enterprises and supported businesses was completed to understand the extent to which they provide paid employment for the mentally ill. A study-specific questionnaire was developed. It covered two broad areas asking employers about the nature of the Social Firm itself and about the employees with mental illness working there.
We obtained returns from 76 Social Firms and social enterprises / supported businesses employing 692 people with mental illness. Forty per cent of Social Firms were in the south of England, 24% in the North and the Midlands, 18% in Scotland and 18% in Wales. Other social enterprises/supported businesses were similarly distributed. Trading activities were confined mainly to manufacturing, service industry, recycling, horticulture and catering. The number of employees with mental illness working in Social Firms and other social enterprises/supported businesses was small (median of 3 and 6.5 respectively). Over 50% employed people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, though the greatest proportion of employees with mental illness had depression or anxiety. Over two thirds of Social Firms liaised with mental health services and over a quarter received funding from the NHS or a mental health charity. Most workers with mental illness in Social Firms had been employed for over 2 years.
Social Firms have significant potential to be a viable addition to Individual Placement and Support (IPS), supporting recovery orientated services for people with the full range of mental disorders. They are currently an underdeveloped sector in the UK.
就业与精神疾病患者的生活质量和幸福感提升相关。失业与更严重的心理疾病相关，并且被视为精神疾病患者所面临社会排斥的核心部分。社会企业为精神疾病患者提供有偿工作，但在英国却未得到充分研究。社会企业“通往康复之路”（SoFARR）项目此阶段的目标是描述社会企业在英国的分布情况和覆盖范围，概述社会企业为重度精神疾病患者提供的机会范围，并了解精神疾病患者在这些企业中的就业程度。
完成了一项针对英国社会企业、其他社会企业及受支持企业的全国性调查，以了解它们为精神疾病患者提供有偿工作的程度。设计了一份针对该研究的问卷。问卷涵盖两个主要方面，询问雇主关于社会企业本身的性质以及在那里工作的患有精神疾病的员工的情况。
我们收到了76家社会企业以及雇佣了692名精神疾病患者的社会企业/受支持企业的回复。40%的社会企业位于英格兰南部，24%位于北部和中部地区，18%位于苏格兰，18%位于威尔士。其他社会企业/受支持企业的分布情况类似。贸易活动主要集中在制造业、服务业、回收利用、园艺和餐饮行业。在社会企业以及其他社会企业/受支持企业中工作的精神疾病患者数量较少（中位数分别为3人和6.5人）。超过50%的企业雇佣了患有精神分裂症或双相情感障碍的员工，不过患有精神疾病的员工中比例最高的是患有抑郁症或焦虑症的人。超过三分之二的社会企业与精神健康服务机构有联系，超过四分之一的企业获得了国民健康服务体系（NHS）或精神健康慈善机构的资助。社会企业中大多数患有精神疾病的员工已工作超过2年。
社会企业有潜力成为个人安置与支持（IPS）模式的有力补充，为各类精神障碍患者提供以康复为导向的服务。它们目前在英国是一个发展不足的领域。
