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Subgroups
Participants experiencing homelessness were recruited from a drop-in center for youth in Los Angeles, CA. Youth were eligible to participate in the study if they were between the ages of 16 and 24, spoke English, and had both a desire to work and a clinical diagnosis in the past year for one of six mental illnesses. Seventy-two eligible individuals agreed to participate in the study. After the research team screened participants and collected their consent, the team randomly assigned participants to either the SEI intervention group or the IPS comparison group. The research team conducted random assignment in blocks to ensure both conditions contained 36 individuals.
Researchers conducted the evaluation from November 2009 to June 2010.
The name of the implementing organization was not provided.
The IPS model provides customized and long-term vocational, case management, and mental health services to individuals with mental illness to help them get a job and maintain their employment. The model follows eight supported-employment principles, all of which relate to theories of psychiatric recovery. IPS participants were assigned to an employment specialist, case manager, and clinician at study enrollment. All study staff were co-located to integrate mental health services with job search support. Participants met with each of these support staff at least once per week over the 20-month intervention period, either in person, by phone, or via social media. The employment process began with a vocational assessment or career profile followed by a rapid job search and follow-along supports.
SEI is an asset-based model of youth development that uses a team approach to engage youth who are experiencing homelessness in paid employment, case management, and mental health services through their involvement in an agency-run social enterprise. SEI is based on the assumption that these youth have "survival behaviors," or informal ways of making money, that can be turned into entrepreneurial skills. SEI participants received continuous case management services over the full 20-month intervention period. In addition, participants attended classes for one and a half hours twice a week. Classes focused first on building vocational skills (4 months), and then on developing small business skills (4 months). In the final 12 months of the program, participants focused on SEI formation and product distribution.
None
The study setting was a Los Angeles, CA, drop-in center for youth experiencing homelessness.
Number of formal and informal labor networks; Number of survival behaviors