Date Presented 04/06/19
Employment rates among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are historically low (26%) when compared to people without disabilities (76%). Understanding a person’s strengths, hopes and dreams for the future assists them in setting and achieving vocational goals. As person-centered planning (PCP) is embraced by many state agencies serving people with IDD across the US, occupational therapists have unique skill sets to play a vital role in the PCP process.
Primary Author and Speaker: Meghan Blaskowitz
Additional Authors and Speakers: Lindsay Layer, Sarah Scalero, Abigail Gore, Amy Castagnino, Katrina McNally
PURPOSE: Approximately 1-2% of people worldwide have an intellectual disability (ID) (McKenzie et al., 2016). According to the US Department of Labor (2013), the employment rate for adults with disabilities is only 30% compared to 76% among those without disabilities. This rate is even lower for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), with only 26% employed (Erickson, Lee, & von Schrader, 2017). The present study measured social/community engagement and employment disparities for a sample of adults with IDD participating in a university-based Vocational Transformation Pilot Program. A person-centered planning (PCP) approach was used to assist participants in vocational goal-setting.
DESIGN: This mixed methods study is being conducted in two phases. Phase 1 involved development and pilot testing of a PCP interview tool with 10 adults with IDD recruited from the Vocational Transformation Pilot Program using convenience sampling. During Phase 2, vocational outcomes will be tracked using PCP with an additional 20 participants currently in transition from a sheltered workshop setting to community-based vocational supports. This session presents preliminary findings from Phase 1 and emerging themes from the 10 PCP interviews conducted thus far.
METHODS: Demographics were collected from participants and descriptive statistics analyzed. Participants were interviewed individually, with support from a staff member and/or family member who knew them best. PCP interviews were coded and content analysis was used to identify emerging themes. Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) was used to assist participants in developing vocational goals and will be used to measure change in goals over time. Upon completion of Phase 2 of this study, researchers will conduct further content analysis and paired samples t-tests on pre-/post-GAS scores from initial PCP to one-year follow-up.
RESULTS: Ten (n=10) participants engaged in Phase 1 of the study. The majority (80%) fell between the ages of 25 and 64, with an average age of 48.2 years. Participants were mostly male (60%) and White/Caucasian (50%). Ninety percent of participants had an ID, ranging from mild to moderate ID. Participants received an average of 3.7 community supports/services. Most participants were unemployed (70%) and living with family (60%). Participants most often identified between 6-10 family/friends (40%) in their social networks. Additionally, the majority participated in 0-1 community groups (50%). Preliminary themes were drawn from Phase 1 data and included: 1) Participants had a strong desire to obtain part- or full-time employment, or a change in their current level/type of employment (100%); 2) Most participants had vocational goals (80%); however, a portion of them felt they were not adequately supported to work towards these goals (40%); and 3) Most participants made friends through their day/residential programs (mostly with others with IDD) and were satisfied with these friendships (60%).
CONCLUSION: Social/community engagement and employment disparities within this sample paralleled those on a national level. Phase 1 participants expressed strong desires to work, but were not currently working towards these goals. PCP with adults with IDD is now mandated in multiple countries and many states across the US (Ratti et al., 2016). Occupational therapists can serve a vital role in eliciting clients’ strengths, hopes and dreams through PCP. Occupational therapists can serve as consultants in developing PCP assessment tools, advocates for services that support adults with IDD to achieve vocational goals, or as facilitators in creating customized employment opportunities, all aimed at closing disparity gaps for people with IDD.
References
Erickson, W., Lee, C., & von Schrader, S. (2017). Disability Statistics from the American Community Survey (ACS). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Yang-Tan Institute (YTI). Retrieved from www.disabilitystatistics.org.
McKenzie, K., Milton, M., Smith, G., & Ouellette-Kuntz, H. (2016). Systematic review of the prevalence and incidence of intellectual disabilities: Current trends and issues. Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 3, 104–115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-016-0085-7.
Ratti, V., Hassiotis, A., Crabtree, J., Deb, S., Gallagher, P., & Unwin, G. (2016). The effectiveness of person-centred planning for people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 57, 63-84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2016.06.015.
US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2013). Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/data/.
