title: Work participation for people with severe mental illnesses: An integrative review of factors impacting job tenure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Enabling people with severe mental illness to sustain employment remains a challenge. This is despite most wishing to be employed, and the development of effective vocational interventions and employment supports for this population. To better understand how to enable their sustained involvement in the workforce, this review sought to identify, analyse and summarise studies investigating the factors that impact the job tenure of workers with severe mental illness, irrespective of the type of employment support they received.
  
  
  METHODS
  An integrative literature review approach was employed to locate, appraise and synthesise quantitative and qualitative research focused on job tenure published in the 20 years up to 2013. Findings from nineteen studies were extracted and integrated using thematic analytic strategies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Job tenure was mostly conceptualised across the reviewed studies as time spent in individual jobs rather than as ongoing participation in the workforce. Three themes describe the factors contributing to job tenure: (1) the worker's experience of doing the current job; (2) natural supports in the workplace; and (3) strategies for integrating work, recovery and wellness, each of which could either support or impede ongoing employment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Occupational therapists, other vocational specialists and mental health staff can use these factors as a guide to supporting people with severe mental illness in employment. More detailed examination of job tenure is required in future research not only on job duration but also on the quality of jobs held, their value for career development and the role of services in supporting tenure.
authors.affiliation: School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Ellie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fossey
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corbière
authors.affiliation: Business Unit, Eshnav LTD., Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paluch
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D004651:Employment / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D016832:Employment, Supported / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D013997:Time Factors; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices
keywords: job tenure; severe mental illness; social firm; supported employment; vocational rehabilitation