Do long-term day treatment clients benefit from supported employment?

Previous research showed that clients with severe metal illness who transferred from day treatment to supported employment improved their vocational outcomes without encountering negative outcomes, The current study examined clients who bad averaged nearly 500 days in day treatment during the previous 5 years before transferring to supported employment. These 32 long-term day treatment clients volunteered to switch to supported employment services and were followed for 1 year Their rate of competitive employment substantially increased, from 12.9% to 64.5% over one year, as did hours of work and wages. Meanwhile, a matched comparison group of clients who did not receive supported employment maintained a stable employment rate between 16.1% and 19.4% As in previous studies, there was no evidence that clients who switched to supported employment encountered negative side effects and also no evidence that vocational gains generalized to improvements in other outcome domains. We conclude that long-term day treatment involvement may prevent rather than facilitate return to normal working lives and that even long-term day treatment clients can succeed in active supported employment programs.