Standardizing measures in four domains of employment outcomes for individual placement and support | Knowledge Translation for Employment Research Center

Authors:	Bond, G. R., Drake, R., & Becker, D.
Year Published	2012
Publication	Psychiatric Services
Volume	63
Number	8
Pages	751-757
Publisher	American Psychiatric Association
Background	Virtually all studies of the individual placement and support (IPS) model of supported employment measure outcomes for job acquisition, but studies are less consistent in measuring job tenure, hours worked, and employment earnings. Lack of a common set of employment measures limits comparisons across studies and cumulative knowledge about IPS.
Purpose	This study examined measures in four employment domains and their interrelationships. It examined two hypotheses. First, IPS improves both the rate of obtaining employment (job acquisition) and the amount of work (job duration, hours worked per week, and total hours and wages). Second, employment outcomes within domains are strongly correlated, whereas outcomes across domains are relatively weakly related.
Setting	All study participants were clients enrolled in public mental health programs. The four study groups were located in Manchester and Concord NH; Washington DC; Hartford CT, and Chicago
Sample	All study participants were clients enrolled in public mental health programs. They were unemployed adults who met each state's criteria for severe mental illness. Other common eligibility criteria included desire for competitive work, ability and willingness to give informed consent, and absence of significant general medical conditions precluding employment. The studies used similar protocols to track employment outcomes. Despite similar research methods, the four studies differed in geographic location and control group interventions.
Data Collection	Using a combined data set from four randomized controlled trials of IPS, this study examined mean differences between IPS participants (N=307) and participants in other vocational services (control sample) (N=374) in four domains (job acquisition, job duration, hours worked per week, and total hours and wages). Eight competitive employment measures were examined (employed at any time, total weeks worked, tenure in the longest-held job, total hours worked, average hours per week worked, total wages, days to first job, and working =20 hours per week during follow-up). Correlations between measures within both the IPS and control samples were determined.
Control	The conditions include: 1) group skills training; initial training in choosing, getting, keeping a job; followed by job placement services from a stand alone rehabilitation program (2) enhanced rehabilitation services provided by a vocational rehabilitation counselor assigned to the project: club house and brokered supported employment (4) diversified placement services.
Findings	IPS participants had significantly better outcomes across all employment measures and domains. Correlations between measures were strong within each domain, but they were variable between domains
Conclusions	In addition to improving job acquisition, IPS improved job duration, hours worked per week, and total hours and wages. The correlational findings suggest proxy measures to assist meta-analysts in the synthesis of studies for which direct measures are unavailable. Initial steps toward a cross-disciplinary theoretical framework for employment outcomes are described.
URL	http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22660524
Disabilities	Emotional disturbance
Populations	Hispanic or Latino \| Black / African American \| White / Caucasian \| Male & Female
Outcomes	Full-time employment \| Increase in hours worked \| Increase in tenure
NIDILRR Funded	Yes
Research Design	Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)
Peer Reviewed	Yes

Year Published

2012

Publication

Psychiatric Services

Volume

63

Number

8

Pages

751-757

Publisher

American Psychiatric Association

Background

Virtually all studies of the individual placement and support (IPS) model of supported employment measure outcomes for job acquisition, but studies are less consistent in measuring job tenure, hours worked, and employment earnings. Lack of a common set of employment measures limits comparisons across studies and cumulative knowledge about IPS.

Purpose

This study examined measures in four employment domains and their interrelationships. It examined two hypotheses. First, IPS improves both the rate of obtaining employment (job acquisition) and the amount of work (job duration, hours worked per week, and total hours and wages). Second, employment outcomes within domains are strongly correlated, whereas outcomes across domains are relatively weakly related.

Setting

All study participants were clients enrolled in public mental health programs. The four study groups were located in Manchester and Concord NH; Washington DC; Hartford CT, and Chicago

Sample

All study participants were clients enrolled in public mental health programs. They were unemployed adults who met each state's criteria for severe mental illness. Other common eligibility criteria included desire for competitive work, ability and willingness to give informed consent, and absence of significant general medical conditions precluding employment. The studies used similar protocols to track employment outcomes. Despite similar research methods, the four studies differed in geographic location and control group interventions.

Data Collection

Using a combined data set from four randomized controlled trials of IPS, this study examined mean differences between IPS participants (N=307) and participants in other vocational services (control sample) (N=374) in four domains (job acquisition, job duration, hours worked per week, and total hours and wages). Eight competitive employment measures were examined (employed at any time, total weeks worked, tenure in the longest-held job, total hours worked, average hours per week worked, total wages, days to first job, and working =20 hours per week during follow-up). Correlations between measures within both the IPS and control samples were determined.

Control

The conditions include: 1) group skills training; initial training in choosing, getting, keeping a job; followed by job placement services from a stand alone rehabilitation program (2) enhanced rehabilitation services provided by a vocational rehabilitation counselor assigned to the project: club house and brokered supported employment (4) diversified placement services.

Findings

IPS participants had significantly better outcomes across all employment measures and domains. Correlations between measures were strong within each domain, but they were variable between domains

Conclusions

In addition to improving job acquisition, IPS improved job duration, hours worked per week, and total hours and wages. The correlational findings suggest proxy measures to assist meta-analysts in the synthesis of studies for which direct measures are unavailable. Initial steps toward a cross-disciplinary theoretical framework for employment outcomes are described.

URL

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22660524

Disabilities

Emotional disturbance

Populations

Hispanic or Latino | Black / African American | White / Caucasian | Male & Female

Outcomes

Full-time employment | Increase in hours worked | Increase in tenure

NIDILRR Funded

Yes

Research Design

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)

Peer Reviewed

Yes