Predictors of post-hospital employment status for persons with psychiatric disability: Perceptions of rehabilitation health professionals in Hong Kong

Post-hospital employment status is an important outcome measure for psychiatric rehabilitation. This paper describes a survey of rehabilitation health professionals in a psychiatric hospital in Hong Kong (a Special Administrative Region of China) to identify important predictors of employment outcome for persons with psychiatric disability. An exploratory factor analysis showed that five factors (social-vocational competence, psychosocial support, medical history, work history, and demographic characteristics) accounted for 55% of the total variance. Descriptive statistics of the factor-based scores indicated that the social-vocational competence and work history factors were perceived as the most important predictors by rehabilitation health professionals in Hong Kong. This finding is consistent with research reported in the psychiatric rehabilitation literature. However, the finding regarding medical history and demographic characteristics are different from the Western literature. Implications for clinical practice and further research are discussed.