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Abstract
Background: The UK government is advocating the use of supported employment to help people on incapacity benefits back to work, with an emphasis on Individual Placement and Support (IPS) models. However there is little UK-based evidence on the key ingredients of effective support.
Aim: To ascertain service users' views of what they found helpful about supported employment.
Method: Interviews were carried out with 182 people with severe and enduring mental health problems who were actively engaged with one of the six supported employment agencies included in the study.
Results: Three themes emerged: emotional support, practical assistance and a client-centred approach.
Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of the quality of support, particularly through interpersonal dynamics, which go beyond the organizational features emphasized in the IPS model.
Declaration of interest: The study was financed from Higher Education European Social Fund Objective 3 resources and the six partner agencies made contributions in kind.
Notes
1 The fidelity scale is a 15-item assessment instrument developed by Becker and Drake (Citation2003) (see also Bond et al., Citation1997), which further isolates the active ingredients of IPS. It measures the extent to which employment support agencies adhere to the various elements of IPS, such as the lack of eligibility criteria, relatively small caseloads, short time between referral and job search, close integration between employment and mental health services, low percentage of clients who are in the same job setting or type, continuity of employment specialists and unlimited outreach if clients disengage with the service.