Introduction : work and mental illness - a brief sociological and historical overview / William H. Fisher -- Employment success for people with serious mental illness: a question of person-environment fit? / Alexis D. Henry -- What does competitive employment mean? A secondary analysis of employment approaches in the Massachusetts employment intervention demonstration project / Matthew Johnsen, Colleen McKay, Alexis D. Henry, Thomas D. Manning -- Business as usual: work experiences of homeless persons with mental illness / Susan A. Pickett-Schenk, Judith A. Cook, Jessica A. Jonikas, Michael Banghart -- Employment services and employment outcomes for adults with serious mental illness / John A. Pandiani, Steven M. Banks, Monica M. Simon -- Persons with mental disorders in the competitive labor market: foundations for a research agenda / Marjorie L. Baldwin.

Over the centuries work for persons with severe mental illness has ranged from virtual slave labor to institutional peonage to contemporary rehabilitative programs that seek to assist individuals in re-entering the workplace. How best to do this remains an open question however, and has captured the attention of researchers from a broad range of disciplines, from rehabilitation research to labor economics. This volume provides a sense of this diversity and an overview of research perspectives in this critically important area. Included are chapters discussing important new theoretical frameworks, issues in the evaluation of programmatic efforts to enhance employment opportunities, and discussions grounded in large scale social and economic perspectives.

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