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Institutional work aimed at increasing employment orientation in mental health services

Line Fossum Skogstad (Centre for the Study of Professions, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway)

Journal of Health Organization and Management

ISSN: 1477-7266

Article publication date: 24 September 2024

52

Abstract

Purpose

The importance of employment in recovery from mental health illness has led to broad recognition of the integration of employment-oriented support into mental health treatment. However, there is variation in the extent to which an employment orientation permeates healthcare services. This article explores how managers and advisors in health and welfare services in Norway function as “change agents”, who work to increase an employment orientation in mental health services.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical material consists of 20 interviews with change agents in health and welfare organisations. They work to implement a model – individual placement and support – to integrate an employment orientation in healthcare services. The findings are analysed using the framework of “institutional work” to elucidate the strategies used by change agents.

Findings

The findings underscore a consensus on the health advantages of employment and that employment-oriented support belongs in mental health treatment. However, this concept requires further cultivation within healthcare services, with individual actors playing a key role as change agents. Depending on the stage of the various organisations in the change process and the actors’ positions within the institutional context, the actors engaged in both creative and maintenance institutional work.

Practical implications

The article´s findings are significant for how health organisations can work to achieve desired changes.

Originality/value

This article contributes to the literature on collaboration and implementation of employment-oriented practices in healthcare by directing attention to the dynamics of organisational change processes and the efforts of individual actors to promote change.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all the participants in the study, as well as the research groups “Professional Practice and Interaction”, “KAI seminar” and “INTEGRATE” for valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper. The research underlying this paper was co-financed by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (Nav) and the Research Council of Norway [grant number 304524] as part of the Public Sector PhD scheme. The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration has otherwise not been involved in the research underlying this paper. The study has been reviewed and approved in advance by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (487557). Informed consent has been obtained from all participants.

Citation

Skogstad, L.F. (2024), "Institutional work aimed at increasing employment orientation in mental health services", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-05-2024-0178

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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