Outcome assessment of short-term vocational training for direct service supported employment workers

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Conley, Ronald W.

Affiliations: 22820 Peach Tree Road, Boyds, MD 20841, USA. Tel.: +1 301 515 1889; E-mail: rwconley@bellatlantic.net

Abstract: This note presents a method of approximating how many persons were placed on new or improved supported employment jobs after attending a training seminar on job development. Individual follow-up phone calls were completed for 50 trainees four to eight months after the training, a response rate of 82 percent. Seventy-two percent reported that the outcomes for 163 supported employees were improved in one or more ways. Although the method is based on subjective data, it is low-cost, can be implemented quickly, and focuses on measuring improvements in outcomes. We believe the method will be useful only if collected by experienced interviewers who have no stake in the results.

Keywords: Supported employment, evaluation, assessment, outcomes, training

Journal: Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 161-163, 2006