A survey of recruitment and retention issues for occupational therapists working clinically in mental health.

Background:   Mental health services Australia-wide have difficulty recruiting and retaining clinical occupational therapists.

Methods:   A survey of occupational therapists to identify factors that could influence their retention or loss from clinical mental health practice was undertaken.

Results:   Typically, respondents were female, aged 30 years or younger, working full-time at a grade 2 or 3 level, and had worked entirely in mental health.

Do people with schizophrenia comprehend what they read?

Although people with schizophrenia appear to be able to read aloud, their reading comprehension has been little tested. This study asks, Do people with schizophrenia have deficits in reading comprehension compared with well controls and, if so, what are the type and severity of those deficits? The reading comprehension of 30 people with chronic schizophrenia was compared with a group of 30 people without a psychiatric diagnosis. The groups were matched for sex and age and had similar intelligence scores.