The worker role has been seen as central in the western world for decades, influencing initial impressions and judgments about an adult's status, wealth, and class. Implications for understanding individuals' occupational participation which enhances a sense of self and promotes feelings of belonging are identified.

The longitudinal nature of the study facilitated engagement with the developing narratives and exploration of the changes and consistencies in the participants' meaning making about their occupations. Many of the participants envisaged working as a way of achieving this. Work and other ways of belonging encapsulated the need to feel connected to others. Most of the participants wanted to work, and participation in occupations was seen as essential to recovery from mental ill-health. Building and maintaining an occupational identity expressed the ways in which participants used occupations as the building blocks of an evolving identity. The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed according to phenomenological principles.

Data were collected through up to three depth interviews with each participant over 18 months.

The participants were three women and seven men who were attending a mental health day centre. This phenomenological study explores the meanings of work for people living with severe and enduring mental health conditions.

Occupation what is the meaning