Societal participation: examining the impact of a rehabilitation approach for young people with schizophrenia.

This paper is based on research that focuses on the impact of a rehabilitation approach with respect to 99 young people diagnosed with schizophrenia in a Dutch mental health facility. The approach focused on societal participation goals. Nurses and social workers play a key role in such treatment. The research focused on developmental trajectories and showed significant improvement with respect to societal participation levels. Impairment scores remained stable. The results indicate that rehabilitation counselling by nurses and social workers, in addition to medication and psychosocial treatment and integrated in a multidisciplinary team, can make a difference in a patient's societal participation.