Supported employment and customized employment: How effective are these interventions and what has been their impact on the field?

Abstract

editorial in that we will not pose only opinions but do our best to highlight evidence based research that we think may help in the overall thought process when evaluating the two interventions.

Supported Employment, Demographic Covariates, and Adjunctive Vocational Rehabilitation Services as Predictors of Competitive Integrated Employment for Young Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Hierarchical Logistic Regression Analysis

“…For example, job seekers with IDD using SE often have limited work histories and less understanding of their work preferences so more time is needed to gather information that will inform the job development phases. Further, people with IDD tend to require a higher intensity of on-the-job instruction and workplace modi cation [11,25] of self-management procedures to address behaviorally challenging situations [25]. In addition, employment specialists often assist people with IDD in navigating the natural changes that occur in business to maintain employment over time [27].…”

“…This implies that employment services are still supplementary rather than constituting a comprehensive systemic change [3,[7][8][9]. Supported Employment (SE) is an evidence-based intervention for individuals with the most signi cant disabilities that provides individualized workplace supports needed for successful job performance in competitive integrated employment settings [10,11]. Since the early 1980s, support employment has been implemented as the employment intervention of choice for individuals with IDD in the US and internationally.…”

“…To truly evaluate the success of SE for individuals with IDD, it is necessary to examine the effectiveness of SE plus the adjunctive SVRA services titled job search assistance, job placement assistance, and workplace support. These three adjunctive services account for the four phases of SE as it was developed and researched [11]. Finally, there is evidence that the income limits placed on individuals who receive federal disability bene ts such as Supplemental Security Disability Income may act as a disincentive for CIE [22][23][24].…”