Skip to main content

Barriers to Employment for Transition-age Youth with Developmental and Psychiatric Disabilities

Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research volume 44, pages 354–358 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Youth with developmental and psychiatric disabilities encounter significant vocational challenges, even when they receive supported employment services. We examined the barriers to employment for 280 transition-age youth with disabilities enrolled in supported employment in eight community rehabilitation centers. Employment team members identified each youth’s top three barriers to employment using a 21-item checklist. Lack of work experience, transportation problems, and program engagement issues represented common barriers for both youth with developmental disabilities (53, 36, and 25%) and youth with psychiatric disabilities (20, 33, and 26%). Additional common barriers among youth with developmental disabilities included cognitive problems (32%) and lack of social skills (23%) and among youth with psychiatric disabilities included poor control of psychiatric symptoms (23%). Despite receiving evidence-based employment services, youth with disabilities encounter many barriers to employment. Awareness of typical barriers for transition-age youth, including those specific to different disability groups, may help employment programs anticipate challenges and develop strategies that avoid these barriers and their effects on employment opportunities.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Bond, G. R., Drake, R. E., & Luciano, A. (2015). Employment and educational outcomes in early intervention programmes for early psychosis: A systematic review. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 24(05), 446–457.

  • Bond, G. R., Kim, S. J., Becker, D. R., Swanson, S. J., Drake, R. E., Krzos, I. M., … Frounfelker, R. L. (2015). A controlled trial of supported employment for people with severe mental illness and justice involvement. Psychiatric Services, 66(10), 1027–1034. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201400510.

  • Cook, J. A., Lehman, A. F., Drake, R., McFarlane, W. R., Gold, P. B., Leff, H. S., … Burke-Miller, J. K. (2005). Integration of psychiatric and vocational services: A multisite randomized, controlled trial of supported employment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(10), 1948–1956.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Drake, R. E., Bond, G. R., & Becker, D. R. (2012). Individual placement and support: An evidence-based approach to supported employment: Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Drake, R. E., Skinner, J. S., Bond, G. R., & Goldman, H. H. (2009). Social security and mental illness: Reducing disability with supported employment. Health Affairs, 28(3), 761–770.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, K. M., Xie, B., & Glynn, S. (2012). Adapting the individual placement and support model with homeless young adults. Paper presented at the Child & youth care forum.

  • Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1989). Fourth generation evaluation. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kukla, M., McGuire, A. B., & Salyers, M. P. (2015). Barriers and facilitators related to work success for veterans in supported employment: A nationwide provider survey. Psychiatric Services, 67(4), 412–417.

  • Lindsay, S. (2011). Discrimination and other barriers to employment for teens and young adults with disabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation, 33(15–16), 1340–1350.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay, S., McDougall, C., Menna-Dack, D., Sanford, R., & Adams, T. (2015). An ecological approach to understanding barriers to employment for youth with disabilities compared to their typically developing peers: Views of youth, employers, and job counselors. Disability and Rehabilitation, 37(8), 701–711.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, T., Goldberg, R. W., Braude, L., Dougherty, R. H., Daniels, A. S., Ghose, S. S., … Delphin-Rittmon, M. E. (2014). Supported employment: Assessing the evidence. Psychiatric Services, 65(1), 16–23.

  • Milfort, R., Bond, G. R., McGurk, S. R., & Drake, R. E. (2015). Barriers to employment among Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries in the mental health treatment study. Psychiatric Services, 66(12), 1350–1352.

  • Noel, V. A., Oulvey, E., Drake, R. E., Bond, G. R., Carpenter-Song, E. A., & DeAtley, B. (2016). A preliminary evaluation of individual placement and support for youth with developmental and psychiatric disabilities. Manuscript submitted for publication.

  • Rusch, F. R., & Braddock, D. (2004). Adult day programs versus supported employment (1988–2002): Spending and service practices of mental retardation and developmental disabilities state agencies. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 29(4), 237–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siperstein, G. N., Heyman, M., & Stokes, J. E. (2014). Pathways to employment: A national survey of adults with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 41(3), 165–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016). Persons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics—2015. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/disabl.pdf.

  • Wehman, P., Chan, F., Ditchman, N., & Kang, H.-J. (2014). Effect of supported employment on vocational rehabilitation outcomes of transition-age youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A case control study. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 52(4), 296–310.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wehman, P., Sima, A. P., Ketchum, J., West, M. D., Chan, F., & Luecking, R. (2015). Predictors of successful transition from school to employment for youth with disabilities. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 25(2), 323–334.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the State of Illinois and the Individual Placement and Support team members at the community rehabilitation centers for their contribution to this report and the services that they provide to the youth described in this evaluation, and Mr. Doug Morton for his expertise in employment services. The authors thank SourceAmerica for its support.

Funding

This study was funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Rehabilitation Services and SourceAmerica.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, 85 Mechanic Street, Suite C3-1, Lebanon, NH, 03766, USA

    Valerie A. Noel & Robert E. Drake

  2. Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Rehabilitation Services, Chicago, USA

    Eugene Oulvey

  3. IPS Employment Center, Westat Inc., Lebanon, 03766, USA

    Robert E. Drake & Gary R. Bond

Authors
  1. Valerie A. Noel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eugene Oulvey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Robert E. Drake
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Gary R. Bond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valerie A. Noel.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Dr. Noel declares she has no conflict of interest. Dr. Oulvey is the State Coordinator of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Addictions with and receives income from the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Rehabilitation Services. Dr. Drake declares he has no conflict of interest. Dr. Bond declares he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Dartmouth’s Institutional Review Board reviewed the study and deemed it program evaluation and therefore exempt and not requiring informed consent from clients or families receiving services. Only aggregated program-level client data were included in the analyses.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Noel, V.A., Oulvey, E., Drake, R.E. et al. Barriers to Employment for Transition-age Youth with Developmental and Psychiatric Disabilities. Adm Policy Ment Health 44, 354–358 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-016-0773-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-016-0773-y

Keywords

  • Youth
  • Barriers
  • Employment
  • Developmental disabilities
  • Mental illness