Purpose

This research will increase the quality of supported employment services provided to people with IDD by establishing a valid and reliable scale for implementation.

Overview

This Intervention Development study, implemented by VCU, is essential to build capacity among Community Rehabilitation Providers (CRPs) who provide supported employment (SE), which is CIE, to job seekers and employees with IDD. It is based on five findings from current practice and research. First, state VR agencies currently spend significant funds on SE services yet employment outcomes for individuals with IDD remain dismal (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023). Second, SE services have been demonstrated in research to lead to CIE outcomes at much higher rates than is observed in practice indicating a major research-to-practice gap (Wehman, 2023). Third, despite the prevalence of SE service provision across the U.S., there is still no established tool to monitor the quality-of-service provision or set improvement goals (Iwanga, et al., In Press). Fourth, individuals with IDD view SE as an effective way to gain CIE but report being unable to get services from trained service providers (Schall, et al., 2024). Fifth, SE is dependent on services from an employment specialist, (a.k.a. job coach). Yet, there is no consistency in the training of employment specialists (Ham et al., 2022). Thus, job seekers with IDD face major barriers getting quality SE services.

The purpose of this study is to eliminate these barriers through the development of a fidelity measure for CRPs to identify their training needs when providing services to job seekers and employees with IDD. Fidelity is the degree to which service providers implement an intervention in the way it was originally researched and found to be effective. In the absence of a fidelity measure, service providers may conclude SE is ineffective when they haven't delivered SE correctly. Even worse, they may assume that a job seeker is not employable, when instead, it is the service provider who did not provide the proper support. This study will improve service delivery, and thereby CIE outcomes, through the development of a rigorously tested and technically sound SE fidelity scale for CRPs serving job seekers with IDD. The absence of a scale and instruction manual that defines quality services through observable measurable indicators makes it impossible for individuals with IDD, service providers and policy makers to discriminate between high- and low-quality services. A fidelity scale will help these stakeholders evaluate programs in terms of service quality, efficiency, and outcomes.