Sample Item from the SE Fidelity Scale

Rapid Search for competitive job: The search for competitive jobs occurs rapidly after program entry.

Scoring: After SE program entry, the first contact with an employer about a competitive job is typically.....

5 - within one month
4 - > 1 month but < 6 months
3 - > 6 months but < 9 months
2 - > 9 months but < 1 year
1 > one year

Transcript

The SE Fidelity Scale consists of 15 simple-to-understand, face-valid items. Each item is rated on a 5-point continuum, ranging from 1 = Not Implemented to 5 = Fully Implemented, with intermediate values representing progressively greater degrees of implementation. The response alternatives are behaviorally anchored, that is, they identify concrete measurable elements of the practice. If you would like to review the items on the scale now, please use this link, which will open the scale in a new window.

Rapid search for competitive employment is one of 6 evidenced-based practices for supported employment discussed earlier. The actual item on the Fidelity Scale reads as follows:

Rapid Search for competitive job: The search for competitive jobs occurs rapidly after program entry.

This item demonstrates the use of the Scale in determining the degree to which the program being reviewed is implementing supported employment consistent with evidence-based practices. The standard is that the supported employment team does not delay in beginning the job search with pre-training for instance. In other words, the majority of consumers have their first employer contact within the first month of receiving services.

You should note that the standard is employer contact, not actually obtaining a job, which is not fully within the control of the employment specialist and may in fact be counterproductive if the principle of job matching is honored. Also note that the standard does not say that all consumers meet the one-month criterion. It will vary according to the individual circumstances. This item has been found to clearly differentiate evidence-based supported employment programs from those that require consumers to complete pre-vocational training first, as well as programs that depend on a cumbersome vocational rehabilitation eligibility process prior to a consumer’s formal reception of services.