People with mental health conditions are at a high risk to experience occupational restrictions. Involvement in meaningful occupations contributes to health and well-being and appears to be an important component of recovery from mental illness. Today, various services are offered in hospitals; however, there is little evidence for occupation-oriented interventions for in-patient settings.

Development and initial establishment of a short-term intervention program for in-patient setting, targeting to promote everyday functions and participation in daily life of people who experience restrictions in occupational patterns due to mental health conditions.

Investigate initial intervention effectiveness for currently admitted people with psychosis.

The intervention protocol was developed based on theoretical and practical background, participants’ feedback and fidelity registration. Initial intervention effectiveness was evaluated using a small subject design (N=10). The participants were approached during hospitalization period. They completed the evaluation battery at a base-line, participated in the intervention program as long as they were hospitalized and were re-evaluated at the end of the program.

After development of the intervention protocol with adequate documentation, the program was found to be contributing to the following parameters: number of participated occupations, enjoyment in occupation participation, functional capacity, functioning and schizophrenia symptoms (0.11< ES<0.36).

The pilot study showed that the occupational issues may be approached with favourable results already during hospitalization. The future research should be directed toward further establishment of the occupation-oriented interventions in order to promote recovery and well-being of people with schizophrenia.