FORTE finances research project about entry and sustainability in working life for young adults with early-onset mental ill-health.

Åsa Andersén, researcher in the research group Public health, working life and rehabilitation, has been awarded grants from FORTE to study entry into and sustainability in working life among young adults aged 19-29 with early-onset mental ill-health/common mental disorders (CMD). CMDs at a young age are at risk of being Neither in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), which may harm their future life prospects and labour-market establishment. The project aims to generate knowledge that can help prevent NEET and explore how inclusion and sustainability in working life can be promoted for the target group. The project aims to study the target group by adopting a societal perspective using data from several linked administrative registers and from an individual perspective through interviews.

The project group also includes Magnus Helgesson, Anna Nyberg (Department of Public Health and Care Sciences), Iman Alaie (Department of Psychology), Uppsala University and Lisa Holmlund (Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society) from Karolinska Institutet.The research project is planned to start in the spring 2026 and will continue for three years.