OBJECTIVE: Many people with psychiatric disability have educational goals. In this paper, we survey a sample to describe the frequency of academic interests, specific goals related to this interest, and barriers that undermine education. METHODS: One hundred and four people from a large Midwestern mental health center completed the Educational Goals Survey (EGS) which was developed with feedback from two consumer focus groups. RESULTS: Almost two thirds of respondents never got beyond high school education. Of this group, 54.5% wanted to go back to school. Reasons for returning to school included improving one's job status and enhancing personal growth. CONCLUSIONS: Two sets of barriers emerged from the data; those which are consistent with any adult student and those which must be addressed because of disability. We make sense of these data by comparing results with the U.S. Census where appropriate.
OBJECTIVE: Many people with psychiatric disability have educational goals. In this paper, we survey a sample to describe the frequency of academic interests, specific goals related to this interest, and barriers that undermine education. METHODS: One hundred and four people from a large Midwestern mental health center completed the Educational Goals Survey (EGS) which was developed with feedback from two consumer focus groups. RESULTS: Almost two thirds of respondents never got beyond high school education. Of this group, 54.5% wanted to go back to school. Reasons for returning to school included improving one's job status and enhancing personal growth. CONCLUSIONS: Two sets of barriers emerged from the data; those which are consistent with any adult student and those which must be addressed because of disability. We make sense of these data by comparing results with the U.S. Census where appropriate.