Many individuals with psychiatric disabilities face workplace challenges that motivate them to pursue self-employment, but accessible self-employment support is lacking. Using participatory action research, Reclaiming Employment (RE), an online interactive platform that provides self-employment education for people who experience mental health-related challenges around work, was developed to address these gaps. An observational pilot study of RE examined usage, usability, self-efficacy, and self-employment income of 97 participants who used RE for six months. RE users rated the platform at above average usability, although those who experienced long-term unemployment rated the platform significantly lower compared to wage or self-employed users. In longitudinal regression models, we found use of RE was significantly associated with increases in some ESE subscales and mean ESE.
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Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, convened the hearing as one of several framed around the pending reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
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U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Full Committee hearing in 2014 on access to higher education for students with disabilities.
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