Abstract
The study is to investigate psychological self-sufficiency—the force within someone that activates cognitive and non-cognitive process of shifting perceived barriers into hope actions—as it relates to economic self-sufficiency among jobseekers with mental health barriers. Among a sample of 2455 low-income jobseekers in job readiness programs at six community-based agencies in Chicago, a subsample of 424 who self-identified as having mental illness barriers are selected to analyze the relationships between employment hope, employment barriers, and economic self-sufficiency using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that employment hope mediates the path between perceived employment barriers and economic self-sufficiency. The study further highlights the positive effects of employment barriers on employment hope among jobseekers with perceived mental illnesses. The findings support growing evidence that psychological self-sufficiency is positively associated with gaining economic self-sufficiency in workforce development programs.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 178-188 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Community Mental Health Journal |
Volume | 57 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2021 |
Keywords
- Economic self-sufficiency
- Employment barriers
- Employment hope
- Mental health
- Psychological self-sufficiency
- Structural equation modeling
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health