Judith A. Cook, Ph.D., Professor & Principal Investigator
EIDP Coordinating Center
University of Illinois at Chicago
Department of Psychiatry
Mental Health Services Research Program

Funded by the Center for Mental Health Services
of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Transcript

The focus of this lecture is the Employment Intervention Demonstration Program, which is funded by the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The purpose of the program is to study vocational interventions for people with psychiatric disabilities in order to determine new ways of enhancing employment opportunities and quality of life for consumers. This multi-site study is researching innovative models combining vocational rehabilitation with clinical services and supports for people with mental illness.

Eight demonstration sites are included in the program as well as a Coordinating Center that is responsible for overall program administration, data management, and data analyses. The eight demonstration sites are located in Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas. The Coordinating Center is located at the Mental Health Services Research Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago working in collaboration with the Human Services Research Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Employment Intervention Demonstration Program is guided by a Steering Committee, which includes a representative from each of the eight demonstration sites, a Coordinating Center representative, a consumer researcher, and the Center for Mental Health Services government project officer.

The Program explores the complex factors involved in securing and maintaining satisfying employment by consumers with mental illness. The major focus of the program is on how these factors are influenced by different types of service interventions. Services are delivered by mental health and rehabilitation professionals, local and state government agencies, and self-help and peer support organizations.

In this presentation, you will learn about the study design and research methods used to collect data, as well as the different types of service delivery models tested at each site. Some of the service programs evaluated included the Individual Placement & Support Model of supported employment, transitional employment, clubhouse, and other traditional vocational rehabilitation programs. Data were collected from February 1996 – June 2000, and were forwarded to the Coordinating Center for analysis and dissemination. Rigorous evaluation designs, as well as involvement of consumers and families, were used to ensure the usefulness of the results from the Program.