title: Characterizing Factors of Employment Status in Persons With Major Depressive Disorder.
abstract: Employment is fundamental to mental health recovery. The aim of this study is to construct a parsimonious profile indicating employment potential of people with major depressive disorder (MDD) to facilitate clinical assessment on employment participation. Data were drawn from Waves 1 (2001-2002) and 2 (2004-2005) of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. We included participants who had MDD at Wave 1 and were interviewed in both waves (N = 2,864). We conducted Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis to identify key characterizing factors of Wave 2 employment among 32 Wave 1 risk and protective factors. The results show that 82.1% of those employed at Wave 1 were likely to be employed at Wave 2. Among those unemployed at Wave 1, 51% of those motivated to work, measured by work-seeking behavior in the prior year, were likely to be employed at Wave 2. Among those unemployed and motivated to work, better functional mental health was associated with employment (>25.3 vs. ≤25.3). Results highlight the importance of motivation to work, shown in active work seeking, in facilitating employment despite clinical conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Welfare National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan fpchen@ccu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Fang-Pei
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Touro College Graduate School of Social Work, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Samet
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Prakash
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gorroochurn
authors.affiliation: Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: O'Hara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: CART; employment; functional mental health; major depressive disorder; motivation to work