Case Managers' Expectations about Employment for People with Psychiatric Disabitities

Background: The importance of employment in lives of people with psychiatric disabilities is well documented. Yet, the role of case managers in facilitating or inhibiting employment opportunities for consumers is only beginning to be understood. This study examined the psychometric properties of a newly developed self-report measure designed to assess case managers' employment-related expectations of consumers. Methods: Psychometric properties of a 24-item self-report measure, Expectations for the Employability of People with Serious Mental Illness (EESMI), were examined using a sample of 107 case managers. EESMI items tap individual and social systems factors related to employment for people with psychiatric disabilities. Construct validity was assessed by relationships between EESMI scores and scores on measures of general expectations and opinions of people with serious mental illness, case manager burnout, and social desirability. Findings: EESMI consists of three empirically derived subscales with good internal consistency. Case managers' scores on EESMI correlated positively with scores on general expectations and opinions about people with mental illness scales and were generally unrelated to social desirability scores. EESMI scores were positively related to case managers' perceptions of the employability of consumers on their caseloads. Conclusions: EESMI is a psychometrically sound measure of mental health professionals' employment-related expectations of consumers. Reliable and valid assessment is basic to the study of mental health professionals' role in increasing employment opportunities for people with psychiatric disabilities. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.