Background:

It has been estimated that over 70% of people living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia wish to work. The Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model has proven to be highly effective in enhancing competitive employment in people with schizophrenia. However, the efficacy of augmented IPS interventions, in other words, those that incorporate a psychosocial intervention into the model, has not been evaluated in this population.

Objective:

To assess the efficacy of augmented IPS interventions designed to obtain competitive employment in people with schizophrenia.

Method:

A systematic review of the literature on randomized clinical trials of augmented IPS interventions, published in English between 2007 and 2017, was conducted in the electronic databases of PubMed, Science Direct, and EBSCO. Risk of bias and competitive employment rates were calculated. A meta-analysis was performed using the random effects method to estimate the effect of augmented IPS interventions.

Results:

Twelve articles were identified in which 10 augmented IPS interventions were compared with other interventions. In eight studies conducted on people with schizophrenia, the intervention was based on IPS + social skills/work skills/cognitive remediation vs. IPS or modified IPS. No general effect favoring augmented interventions (RR = 1.37, 95% CI [.97, 1.95], I2 = 52%) was found. Augmented IPS interventions tend to be more effective when they are implemented during the first psychotic episode.

Discussion and conclusion:

It is not possible to conclude that augmented IPS interventions have a significant effect over standard IPS interventions in obtaining competitive employment in people with schizophrenia.

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