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Article Excerpt
Aplethora of literature has documented that people with severe mental illness (SMI) lack the social skills and social competence necessary in the workplace which was a hindrance for them to get and keep a job (Cook & Razzano, 2000; Rudrud, Ziarnik, Bernstein, & Ferrara, 1984; Solinski, Jackson, & Bell, 1992; Tsang & Pearson, 2000; Tsang, Lam, Dasari, Ng, & Chan, 2000; Tsang, Lam, Ng, & Leung, 2000; Tsang, 2003). Several research studies have shown that there was a relationship between social skills deficits and poor vocational outcomes in people with SMI (Charisiou, Jackson, Boyle, Burgess, Minas, & Joshua, 1989a & 1989b; Cook & Razzano, 2000; Johnstone, Macmillan, Frith, Benn, & Crow, 1990; Lysaker, Bell, Milistein, Bryson, Shestopal, & Goulet, 1993; Mueser, Salyers, & Mueser, 2001). Previous research indicated that 75% to 90% of adults with SMI are unemployed (Bond, Becker, Drake et al., 2001; Dion & Anthony, 1987; Mueser et al., 2001; Trupin, Sebesta, Yelin et al., 1997; Unger & Anthony, 1984).
In order to help mental health consumers equip the essential social skills necessary in the workplace and facilitate mental health consumers for competitive employment, both foreign and local studies have shown the potential of implementing social skills training in the vocational rehabilitation context (Mueser & McGurk, 2004; Tsang & Pearson, 2001; Tsang, 2003; Wallace, Tauber, & Wilde, 1999; Wallace & Tauber, 2004). Wallace and colleagues (1999) developed a module which focused on workplace fundamentals and aimed to teach people with SMI how to maintain their jobs and facilitate their job adjustment. Tsang and Pearson (1996) developed and validated a conceptual framework to apply social skills training in the context of vocational rehabilitation for people with SMI. The results of randomized clinical trials showed the positive effect of such efforts to facilitate people with SMI in getting and keeping a job (Tsang & Pearson, 2001; Tsang, 2001; Wallace & Tauber, 2004).
Both Wallace et al.'s (1999) and Tsang & Pearson's (1996) models focused only on social skills which are generic in nature and applicable to various types of jobs. According to the conceptual model of Tsang and Pearson (1996), social skills in specific work-related situation are an important part of the core skills for successful employment. Researchers buttressed that tailoring job development and specific skills training for a specific job to the consumer's job preference is the key to improving the vocational outcomes for consumers (Becker, Drake, Farabaugh, & Bond, 1996; Becker, Drake, Bond, Xie, Dain, & Harrison, 1998a; Becker, Bebout, & Drake, 1998b; Cook & Razzano, 2000; Dauwalder & Hoffmann, 1992; Pratt, Gill, Barrett, & Roberts, 2002; Stuve, Erickson, & Spaulding, 1991; Tsang & Pearson, 1996; Tsang & Pearson, 2001; Tsang, Ng, & Chiu, 2002; Twamley, Jeste, & Lehman, 2003). Pratt, Gill, Barrett and Roberts (2002) suggested that effective vocational services for consumers should focus on the consumers' choice and the skills training should be client-centered and specific to the real work situation. However, there is lack of training module to facilitate consumers to equip the social skills specific to a job (Cheung & Tsang, 2005).
Studies (Tsang et al., 2002; Wong, Chiu, Chiu, & Tang, 2001) showed that service-oriented jobs and clerical-related jobs are the major job categories for people with SMI in Hong Kong. According to these two relevant studies (Tsang et al., 2002; Wong et al., 2001) and statistics from the Selective Placement Division of the Hong Kong Labour Department, six jobs (salesperson, security guard, waitperson, cleaning worker, delivery worker, and clerk) were identified as most commonly held by people with SMI in Hong Kong. Cheung and Tsang (2005) selected salesperson as the pioneering project to identify the factor structure of essential social skills for this job and developed a Job-specific Social Skills Training (JSST) module to help consumers gain employment based on their job preferences. Cheung and Tsang's study (2005) has identified the factor structure of essential job-specific social skills that could be used develop relevant training package. A clinical trial bolstered that JSST used together with Work-related Social Skills Training (WSST; Tsang, 2001) to form an Integrated Social Skills Training (ISST) for people with SMI resulted in 70.3% of participants who were successful in getting employment (Cheung & Tsang, under review).
The same methodology was used in this study as demonstrated in Cheung and Tsang's study (2005) to investigate social skills necessary for the post as security guard. Security guard work is considered one of the most popular jobs among mental health consumers in Hong Kong (Tsang et al., 2002; Wong et al., 2001). Literature shows that an array of social skills is important to persons who are working as security guards (Farr, Ludden, & Shatkin, 2002; Stiel, 2001). The job description in O*Net, a computerized database of information on occupations, stated that active listening skills, skills for answering questions and providing information to customers are essential to the work of a security guard (Farr, Ludden, & Shatkin, 2002). Stiel (2001) posited several key points that security guard must learn when interacting with customers, for instance, keeping smile, showing empathy, apologizing for inconvenience, etc. However, the above suggested social skills are not specific and comprehensive enough for rehabilitation purposes. Silva and colleagues (1993) conducted a study and analyzed a small sample of security guards who lived with mental illness, and found that job stress caused by high responsibility and the role of authority may have been a factor affecting the work performance of consumers. They suggested that consumers...
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