ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Mental Health Occupational Therapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1624213
EMPLOY YOUR MIND, A VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND COGNITIVE REMEDIATION PROGRAM: THE PARTICIPANTS' EXPERIENCE
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Occupational Therapy, Monash University, Frankston, Australia
- 2WISE IDEA, WISE Employment, Melbourne, Australia
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BACKGROUND: The experience of Cognitive challengesimpairment due to mental health conditions can significantly affect a person's level of functioning and recovery including engagement in employment and other vocational pursuits. Cognitive remediation is an evidence-based treatment that has been demonstrated to improve cognitive ameliorate cognitive impairments, with improved and functional outcomes when embedded within a psychosocial rehabilitation program. Facilitated by occupational therapists, often with co-facilitators who are mental health workers and/or peer workers, Employ Your Mind is a vocational rehabilitation program incorporating cognitive remediation. To date the lived experience of EYM has not been examined. This qualitative study aimed to explore the participant's perspective of the value of the Employ Your Mind program. METHODS: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with purposively sampled participants. The qualitative data was transcribed verbatim prior to undergoing thematic analysis guided by Braun and Clarke (1). The utilisation of member checking and researcher reflexivity augmented the trustworthiness of this study. RESULTS: Findings from participants (n=4) highlights the requirement for a 'just-right challenge', heightens the value of the therapeutic relationship and reinforces the advantages of flexible service provision to harness participant motivation and promote optimal outcomes. DISCUSSION: This study reinforces the necessity of obtaining the lived experiences of participants to shape the evolution of cognitive remediation, particularly in the field of vocational rehabilitation, concurrent with consumer requirements; by providing a qualitative voice to enhance program delivery service provision.
Keywords: Mental health condition, severe mental illness, Cognition, cognitive remediation, vocational rehabilitation, Recovery
Received: 07 May 2025; Accepted: 26 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pruscino, Pope, Khan Willoughby and Miles. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Anne Miles, Department of Occupational Therapy, Monash University, Frankston, Australia
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