Evaluation of the social inclusion programme in Slovenia

Abstract

Background:

People who are unable to work because of a disability are at risk of social exclusion, so a special programme was introduced in Slovenia – the Social Inclusion Programme (SIP) – to support, maintain and develop the work skills, social skills and social integration of unemployable people with disabilities.

Objective:

To assess to what extent inclusion in the SIP benefits the programme's users.

Methods:

In the period between 2020 and 2023, 752 users were enrolled in the SIP at 22 programme providers with units in 45 locations throughout Slovenia, who were assessed by vocational rehabilitation professionals on a 6-month basis. The professionals used a questionnaire that comprised demographic data, health status, frequency of participation in the SIP programme, and ratings of three domains (work adaptability, personality adaptability and interpersonal relationships).

Results:

Because of the large sample size, the worsening of the mean ratings of personality adaptability and interpersonal relationships was statistically significant, but it was negligible from the practical viewpoint. There was no statistically significant change regarding work adaptability. In all three domains, young people showed a slight improvement on average, whereas older people showed more deterioration on average than the middle-age group.

Conclusion:

Overall, the work-related and social skills of the programme users remained practically unchanged over a period of approximately two to three years. This can probably be considered a success, because substantial deterioration would likely have occurred without the programme.