Supported employment, quality of jobs and employment typicalness: The experience of the Engage to Change project

BACKGROUND

Paid employment represents a challenge for people with an intellectual disability and/or autism. This paper analyses the quality of jobs offered by the Engage to Change project and their relationship to the 'typicalness' of the employment offered.

METHOD

Data on the quality of 384 paid jobs were collected, including hours worked and wages earned, and reported social integration at work. The typicalness of the employment experience was assessed for 141 young people, using the Index of Typicalness of Placement Questionnaire.

RESULTS

The Engage to Change project offered a wide range of jobs. There is no difference in the typicalness of the employment experience in relation to the interactions in the workplace, but there are some differences in the recruitment process for men and women.

CONCLUSION

Job coaches should make sure that, despite the procedures being 'atypical' for the workplace, the outcome is 'a typical employment experience' for each employee.

Work-related participation impairments and support needs of patients in a Swiss psychiatric university hospital

Objective

To assess work-related participation impairments and support needs of adult patients in inpatient and day-care treatment at a Swiss psychiatric university hospital.

Methodology

Cross-sectional survey on a department-dependent cut-off date in May and June 2022 using a standardized structured interview.

Results

Data were available for 93 patients (response rate 59%), of which 51% (n = 47) stated that they had a job or training place. Patients in first hospitalization and with a job or training place were approached significantly more often. Regardless of age and first hospitalization, 76% of the patients expressed a need for support, of which 92% expressed interest in job coaching. A total of 54% of the patients stated that they had received support from the treatment team.

Conclusion

From the patients' point of view, work and education were not addressed by the treatment team across the board and independently of patient characteristics. The need for support was insufficiently met. There is a considerable interest for support programs through job coaching, and this offers opportunities to promote the inclusion of patients in the regular labor market.

Usability and consistency in findings of the work support needs assessment tool

BACKGROUND

Structured work support needs assessment could facilitate professionals and increase assessment consistency.

OBJECTIVES

Evaluating usability of the Work Support Needs Assessment Tool and test if professionals' (labour experts, coaches) findings become more consistent after a tool training. The tool includes a 21 item checklist for assessing work support needs of people with disabilities.

METHODS

Usability was explored through 28 interviews with professionals. Consistency was evaluated in an experimental pre-post study design, in which thirty-nine other professionals assessed work support needs of standardized clients before and after a protocolized training. Quantitative content analysis was conducted. Consistency of findings between professionals covered three categories: type (client-focused coaching), focus (topics to be addressed) and duration of support. An increase in consistency was defined as a decrease in the total number of different sub-categories of findings in each category.

RESULTS

Nineteen professionals indicated that the tool was useful, as they gained relevant information and insights. Regarding consistency, the number of findings differed pre- and post-training for type of support (8 vs 9) and focus of support (18 vs 15 and 18 vs 17).

CONCLUSIONS

Participants had positive experiences with the tool. Increased consistency in findings of professionals after the training was not demonstrated with the current study design.

Employment Support for Autistic Adults in the Information Technology Sector: A Case Study of Meticulon Consulting Inc

Background

Autistic adults are at heightened risk to experience poor employment outcomes. Employment supports are suggested to improve these outcomes, but relatively little is known about the key ingredients of employment support and their respective impact.

Methods

We conducted a case study of employment support offered by Meticulon Consulting Inc., a social enterprise that facilitates and supports employment in the information technology (IT) sector for autistic adults. We conducted three sequential interviews (once per month) with four autistic adults working in the IT sector and receiving employment support, as well as one-time interviews with nine employers and three employment support personnel.

Results

Participants valued employment support. They appreciated the immediacy and flexibility of support, varied assistance offered to both employees and employers, and organizational learning about needed workplace adjustments. Participants further stated that employment support improved work environments, decreased employee anxiety at work, and improved employee confidence. Challenges to employment included gaps in support during times of employment interruption, waning employee motivation, and mental health service gaps in the community. Recommendations for future advancement entailed (1) continuous support even in periods of unemployment, (2) employment support services across industries and sectors beyond IT, and (3) greater opportunity for autistic people, as they desire, to advance to leadership roles in employment settings.

Conclusions

The study identifies benefits of, and guidance for, employment support in the IT sector. We offer recommendations, with potential relevance for autistic employees, employers, and employment support providers. Ensuring employment-related supports, as needed and desired by autistic adults, is a priority for advancing employment outcomes in this population.

Lay summary

Why was this study done?: We did this study to learn about employment support in the information technology (IT) sector since little is known about these supports and they may be important in helping autistic adults obtain and keep jobs.What was the purpose of this study?: We sought to explore employment support for autistic individuals working in the IT sector including what employment support was like for autistic adults, individuals employing them, and professionals providing them employment support.What did the researchers do?: We asked 16 people with experience receiving or providing employment supports in the IT sector about their thoughts on employment support: 4 autistic adults who received program support, 9 employers, and 3 employment support professionals.What were the results of the study?: Both employers and employees found employment support services helpful in obtaining and retaining employment. Participants described positive experiences with employment support, including better access to suitable and satisfying employment, improved work environments, decreased anxiety, and a supportive and trusting relationship with the job coaches. Employers noted the proficiency of the employees in their work duties, and identified the job coaches as sources of knowledge and guidance. Employers described benefits to their organizations including learning and growth in their work environment related to attitudes and knowledge about autism and autistic coworkers. Participants recommended (1) continuous employment support even in times of employment interruption, (2) providing employment support across industries and sectors beyond IT, and (3) fostering opportunities for leadership roles for autistic adults, as they desire. Some challenges identified by participants included gaps in services when individuals were waiting to be employed, employees losing motivation, and gaps in community mental health services.What do these findings add to what was already known?: This study helps us better understand employment support in IT jobs. It adds knowledge about the benefits that autistic adults receive from this support. It also describes the importance of extending beyond only individual skill development and moving toward the development of an "ecosystem" of support with increased community resources, including supporting potential employers and reducing barriers to employment. The study also describes specific tasks of employment support, such as brokering communication between employees and employers.What are potential weaknesses in the study?: We did this study in a single region and with a small group of people. It is possible others might have different experiences and perspectives.How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: This study highlights the value of employment support for autistic adults in the IT sector. With wider availability of effective employment support, it is hoped that more autistic adults will achieve better and more satisfying employment. Our findings offer information that can potentially contribute to good and satisfying career opportunities for autistic adults.

Job Maintenance through Supported Employment PLUS: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Sickness absence from work due to experienced distress and mental health issues has continuously increased over the past years in Germany. To investigate how this alarming development can be counteracted, we conducted a randomized controlled trial evaluating a job coaching intervention to maintain the working capacity of members of staff and ultimately prevent sickness absence. Our sample included N = 99 employees who reported mental distress due to work-related problems. The intervention group (n = 58) received between 8 and 12 individual job coaching sessions in which they worked with a professional job coach to reduce their mental distress. The control group (n = 41) received a brochure about mental distress. Data were collected before the start of the study, at the end of the job coaching intervention, and at a 3-month follow-up. These data included the number of sickness absence days as the primary outcome and questionnaire measures to assess burnout indicators, life satisfaction, and work-related experiences and behaviors. Compared with the control group, the results indicated no reduction in sickness absence in the intervention group but fewer depressive symptoms, a heightened ability of the participants to distance themselves from work, more experience of work-related success, less depletion of emotional resources, and a greater satisfaction with life when participants had received the job coaching. Thus, although we could not detect a reduction in sickness absence between the groups, job coaching was shown to be a viable intervention technique to benefit employees by contributing to re-establish their mental health. We discuss the implications of the study and outline future research.

Job Coaching and Success in Gaining and Sustaining Employment Among Homeless People

OBJECTIVE

People who are homeless experience many barriers that affect their ability to gain and sustain work. In this study, we investigate whether personal job coaching support contributes toward employment success.

METHODS

The short- and long-term employment outcomes of 2,480 clients participating in a labor market program were analyzed.

RESULTS

Clients being supported by a job coach have significantly higher chances of gaining employment than those not being supported. This holds particularly true for the youngest age-group. Furthermore, results also indicate that job coaching improves clients' chances of successfully sustaining employment.

CONCLUSIONS

Personal approaches and individual coaching seem to be promising strategies in social work practice and specifically in return to work programs for people who have experienced homelessness.

A nonlinear contextually aware prompting system (N-CAPS) to assist workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities to perform factory assembly tasks: system overview and pilot testing

PURPOSE

This paper presents a new cognitive assistive technology, nonlinear contextually aware prompting system (N-CAPS) that uses advanced sensing and artificial intelligence to monitor and provide assistance to workers with cognitive disabilities during a factory assembly task.

METHODS

The N-CAPS system was designed through the application of various computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms that allows the system to track a user during a specific assembly task, and then provide verbal and visual prompts to the worker as needed. A pilot study was completed with the N-CAPS solution in order to investigate whether it was an appropriate intervention. Four participants completed the required assembly task five different times, using the N-CAPS system.

RESULTS

The participants completed all of the trials that they attempted with 85.7% of the steps completed without assistance from the job coach. Of the 85.7% of steps completed independently, 32.5% of these were completed in response to prompts given by N-CAPS. Overall system accuracy was 83.3%, the overall sensitivity was 86.2% and the overall specificity was 82.4%.

CONCLUSIONS

The results from the study were positive in that they showed that this type of technology does have merit with this population. Implications for Rehabilitation It provides a concise summary of the importance of work in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and how technology can support this life goal. It describes the first artificially intelligent system designed to support workers with intellectually disabilities. It provides evidence that individuals with intellectual disabilities can perform a work task in response to technology.