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.