Promoting disability employment with avail® – a pilot study for feasibility and preliminary efficacy

Abstract

Purpose

Supported employment is a promising vocational rehabilitation intervention for improving disability employment. Its implementation, however, is not without challenges. Lack of funding and the heavy caseload of job coaches significantly constrain its impacts. A mobile software, avail® by CentralReach, was created based on the individual placement and support model for assisting individuals with disabilities to perform their job tasks. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of avail.

Method

A total of 17 participants with disabilities were recruited in a Midwestern state from the United States to try avail for a period of time ranging from 40 to 348 days. Participants’ experiences, including perceived usability, acceptance, and satisfaction, were collected to determine the feasibility of avail. In addition, a pre- and post-intervention analysis was conducted to identify its effects on users’ job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and self-determination.

Results

Participants of this study expressed positive user experience for avail. Specifically, they felt that avail was helpful for their job performance. The results also showed a statistically significant result for improving participants’ self-determination.

Conclusion

avail is a feasible and potentially promising application for assisting workers with disabilities in their job performance. Directly available on mobile devices, avail has several advantages, such as real-time support and good portability. Suggestions and future directions were discussed for further software development.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• A job coach is needed in the individual placement and support model (IPS) to provide on-site job support for individuals with disabilities. However, job coaches were typically overwhelmed by the heavy caseloads.

• A job coach application such as the avail was created, and this study was to test its feasibility and preliminary efficacy.

• The study showed that avail was appropriate for individuals with disabilities to use at work, and they generally enjoyed using the application.

• The preliminary efficacy showed that avail improved their job performances and overall self-determination.

Keywords:

• Assistive technology
• supported employment
• vocational rehabilitation
• disability
• software

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants from Peckham Inc. and New Horizons Rehabilitation Services Inc. We would also like to thank Lisa Marie Clinton and Sam Sweet from CentralReach for facilitating the use of avail and providing technical support throughout the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.