The Knowledge Translation for Employment Research (KTER) Center (https://kter.org) at American Institutes for Research (AIR) is funded to test, in vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency settings, a knowledge broker model in which individuals are positioned to bridge the worlds of research and practice (Long, Cunningham and Braithwaite, 2013). As part of preparing the VR knowledge brokers, who will be known to the agency staff as “research liaisons,” the KTER Center will recruit and train VR supervisors on specific areas of research, one of which is assisting transition-aged youth with disabilities in identifying and maintaining employment.

To guide content development for the upcoming training, the KTER Center engages in several forms of outreach to VR stakeholders. The Center works closely with members of its Technical Working Group (TWG), consults regularly with its partners at the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR), and presents at conferences VR staff attend. As part of this set of activities designed to identify informational needs, KTER conducted focus groups with individuals receiving vocational rehabilitation (VR) services and counselors in State VR agencies.

Between October and December 2016, KTER researchers conducted three telephone focus groups. The team recruited individuals who were working for a VR agency and providing counseling services to transition-aged youth with disabilities. There was a lot of interest in participating in the focus groups so KTER conducted two of them with a total of 14 counselors. A third group was held with four young adults with a wide variety of disabilities. All of them were 18 to 24 years old and had experience with VR services. Across all three focus groups, nine States were represented.

The focus groups with VR staff addressed what VR counselors consider to be most important regarding what they do, and need to do, to help youth with disabilities to find and keep employment successfully. The focus group with youth in transition addressed what VR counselors could do to support them in finding and maintaining a job, as well as their challenges, needed accommodations, and awareness of employment opportunities. The facilitator of each focus group recorded the audio of the session. The audio was transcribed to text. Two members of the research team analyzed the content and organized the data into themes (outlined below). Project leaders from KTER and members of KTER’s Technical Working Group reviewed and finalized the analyses.