Implementation of the individual placement and support approach: facilitators and barriers

The individual placement and support approach (IPS) has become a widely
recognized evidence-based practice to provide work for more people with
severe mental illness. The aim of this literature review was to identify and
evaluate research on implementation of IPS, focusing on facilitators and
barriers. Contextual, local organizational, cooperation/team and
individual factors influence the implementation process. Key facilitators
are the use of a fidelity scale to measure and develop quality and the
employment of skilled local leaders and IPS specialists. Barriers are
located at the contextual level, when the national employment policy
and regulation contradict the IPS scheme, and at the local level, where
mental health professionals’ negative attitudes towards the IPS scheme
and a culture based on a medical approach challenge the
implementation of IPS. The evaluation of research in IPS implementation
show that most studies are empirically driven, using different
understandings of implementation and have a poor theoretical
underpinning of the studies. The need for further studies based on
comparative methods and more developed theoretical framework is
discussed.