The Effectiveness of Psychiatric Day Centres: Longitudinal Pilot Study

For people with prolonged and severe mental illness who are not able to work and for whom even the requirements of sheltered workshops are too high, day centres are considered the lowest-threshold option for being meaningfully occupied (e.g., flexible working hours, no pressure). Day centres are non-medical, day-structuring services that offer long-term, low-threshold support for people with mental illnesses and focus mainly on aspects such as daily routines, meaningful occupations and leisure activities, social contacts and individual and practical support (Gruyters et al., 1997; Mötteli et al., 2024; Schene, 2004). Day centres do not have a theoretical foundation (Catty et al., 2005). However, their overarching aim of enhancing people's mental health, social functioning, and personal recovery can be related to certain theories, such as the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), the recovery approach (Anthony, 1993) and the Jahoda theory about the value of work (Jahoda, 1981, 1982), to name a few. Concerning the latter, the day centres' programmes address the latent factors 'time structure', 'social contacts', 'collective purpose', 'status', and 'activity', whose loss results from unemployment and affects mental health (Paul et al., 2023; Zechmann & Paul, 2019). Satisfying these latent needs through meaningful occupations and social contacts, day centres should contribute to recovery from mental illness and counteract the adverse effects of unemployment. However, although day centres