Background
Supporting people with substance use disorder to work has become a key policy objective internationally. Meanwhile, interventions, such as Individual Placement and Support (IPS), have evolved to facilitate this. This article utilises the concept of emotional labour to explore the feelings and emotions experienced by people receiving treatment for alcohol and other drugs (AOD) who engaged with IPS and secured paid work.
Methods
Data were generated (January 2024 to August 2025) during a mixed methods evaluation of IPS in community AOD services across England. Forty-eight new IPS clients participated in a longitudinal qualitative telephone interview study. Interviews (up to four per participant) were audio recorded and transcribed. Participants who secured paid work at any of their interviews were identified (n=16) and their interview transcriptions (n=57) were indexed and analysed inductively via Iterative Categorisation.
Findings
All data relating to participants’ feelings and emotions were grouped under one of six headings: “The desire to work”; “Emotional challenges to job seeking and starting work”; “Managing uncertainty in the pre-work phase”; “Positive feelings and emotions about working”; “Negative feelings and emotions about working”; and “Feelings about future employment”. Analyses pointed to both positive and negative effects of emotional labour and highlighted an ‘emotions journey’.
Conclusions
People in treatment for AOD can become happy and satisfied employees. However, they need to be prepared for the complex feelings associated with seeking and securing employment. Professionals working in AOD and specialist employment services, such as IPS, are well positioned to assist clients through this emotional process.
