Pathways to Vocational Rehabilitation: Enhancing Entry and Retention

March 11, 2008 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs
This study will examine the barriers and supports for entering and receiving work-related services for veterans with a serious mental illness. It will also determine the effectiveness of a brief motivational interviewing intervention designed to help veterans receive these services.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Randomized clinical trials and naturalistic studies show that among patients meeting criteria for chronic mental illness, those participating in vocational rehabilitation (VR) have significantly reduced days of inpatient hospitalization. Unfortunately, the majority of eligible adults fail to enter VR and almost half of those who do, drop out or are involuntarily discharged. The reasons for nonparticipation and drop out and their impact on rehabilitation outcomes are poorly understood.

The study will provide needed naturalistic data documenting:

  1. the way in which barriers function to reduce entry to services and contribute to the high rate of dropout,
  2. the outcomes associated with different patterns of participation, and
  3. relative rates of entry and retention in a non-VHA VR exemplar of the Intensive Placement and Support (IPS) model at the Manchester Mental Health Center in Manchester, New Hampshire.

While we need to know more about these "barriers" in order to develop the range of appropriate interventions, the enhancement of client motivation for work and rehabilitation is likely to have a positive impact both on entry and sustained compliance. We are proposing a random assignment single blind trial of a brief Motivational Interviewing (MI) intervention designed to address the low entry and retention rates of veterans with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) in Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) VR services.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

200

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, 01730
        • Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 55 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Current diagnosis of serious mental illness, present for at least 2 years
  • Is unemployed or underemployed
  • Current episode of un/underemployment is at least 3 months
  • Enrolled to receive services at study site

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Over the age of 55
  • Non-English speaker
  • Mini-Mental score of less than 20
  • Planning to move more than 30 miles from study site in the next 18 months
  • Previously screened for this study
  • Currently or previously involved in other research studies which may impact variables relevant to this study

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: 1
Single session orientation to available services
Behavioral: single session of Motivational Interviewing

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Entry and Retention in Vocational Rehabilitation
Time Frame: 18 months post intervention
18 months post intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Charles Drebing, PhD, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2005

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2007

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 14, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 14, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

September 22, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 14, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 11, 2008

Last Verified

March 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • E3436R

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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