title: Unemployment among patients with newly diagnosed first-episode psychosis: prevalence and clinical correlates in a U.S. sample.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although it is well established that people with schizophrenia have markedly high rates of unemployment, less is known about the prevalence and clinical correlates of unemployment in patients newly diagnosed with first-episode psychosis. This analysis documented the prevalence of unemployment and examined previously reported clinical correlates of unemployment in patients with first-episode psychosis hospitalized in an urban, public-sector setting in the southeastern US.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (n = 181) were assessed as part of an overarching study of first-episode psychosis using a variety of standardized research instruments. The rate of unemployment was compared to that documented in the general population according to US census data. Bivariate tests of associations between employment status and a number of variables of interest were followed by a multiple logistic regression model based on a previous study from Dublin, Ireland.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Some 65.0% of first-episode patients were unemployed in the month prior to hospital admission, which is substantially higher than the rate of unemployment during the same period in the two counties in which recruitment took place. In bivariate tests, unemployment was associated with younger age, fewer years of educational attainment, lower global functioning scores, and more severe negative symptoms. In the logistic regression model, only age and global functioning were independently significant correlates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The remarkably high rate of unemployment in this young, first-episode sample, and the evidence of associations between unemployment, greater symptomatology, and poorer functioning, argue for further research and development on supported employment programs for such patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Claire E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Ramsay
authors.forename: Tarianna
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Compton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000341:Affective Disorders, Psychotic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D017668:Age of Onset; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015144:Southeastern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014478:Unemployment / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data