Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of supported employment on employment outcomes for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- The study used a nonexperimental design. Data were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration Case Service Report (RSA-911) database. The authors used statistical models to compare the outcomes of supported employment program participants to a matched comparison group.
- The study found a positive relationship between receiving supported employment and obtaining competitive employment.
- This study receives a low causal evidence rating. This means we are not confident that any estimated effects are attributable to supported employment; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Features of the Study
The study used a nonexperimental matched comparison group design to examine the impact of supported employment on competitive employment. Supported employment is competitive work in an integrated setting with support services and has been used to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) with employment goals. Sample data were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration Case Service Report (RSA-911) database for fiscal year 2009. The authors matched clients who received supported employment to those who did not receive supported employment on demographic characteristics and Social Security beneficiary status. The study sample included 23,298 clients with IDD, ages 16 to 25, who received state vocational rehabilitation services, and had their case closed in 2009. Over half of the sample were male (61%), with a larger proportion of White clients (62%) than African American (29%) and Latino (9%) clients, and the majority had a primary intellectual disability (72%). The average age of the sample was 19 years and almost half had had less than a high school education (49%). The authors used statistical models to compare the outcomes of treatment and comparison group members.
Findings
Employment
- The study found a significant relationship between receiving supported employment and obtaining competitive employment.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
While the study used a matched comparison group design, the authors did not account for other factors that could have affected the difference between the treatment and comparison groups. The authors matched on gender, race/ethnicity, education, type of disability, and Social Security beneficiary status but did not match on age or control for it in the analyses as required by the study protocol. These preexisting differences between the groups—and not supported employment—could explain the observed differences in outcomes. Therefore, the study is not eligible for a moderate causal evidence rating, the highest rating available for nonexperimental designs.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not ensure that the groups being compared were similar before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to supported employment; other factors are likely to have contributed.