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Participation in the evaluation was voluntary. All SSDI beneficiaries and SSI applicants and recipients were eligible to participate regardless of age and type or severity of disability. To recruit study participants, the evaluation team conducted outreach to the population served, and those who responded to the outreach received detailed information about participating in the evaluation. The individuals who volunteered to participate in the evaluation were randomly assigned to the intervention condition or the comparison condition. The study used administrative data to assess impacts of the intervention on earnings and benefits receipt. The study team also conducted a follow-up survey with a subsample of individuals (those who were randomly assigned on or after June 1, 1993, and who completed a baseline survey). This review examines the impacts of the intervention among individuals who received both SSI and SSDI at enrollment. Additional reviews examine impacts among individuals who received only SSI at enrollment and individuals applying for SSI. Impacts for individuals that were not SSI applicants or recipients at enrollment, including those who received SSDI but not SSI, were not eligible for review.
Random assignment occurred from mid-1992 to mid-1994. The follow-up period was 36 months. All sites implemented the intervention for 36 months.
U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA)
Across the full sample included in the evaluation (including recipients of SSI, SSDI, and neither at study enrollment), ages ranged from 18 to 60 years old (with a mean age of 40 years), and 58 percent of the sample was male. The sample was primarily White (64 percent) or Black (26 percent). About one-fifth of study participants (21 percent) did not have a high school diploma, whereas 37 percent had graduated high school (only), and 27 percent had at least some college. Before random assignment, on average, study participants had received SSDI benefits for 36 months and SSI benefits for 28 months. The average monthly benefit amount of SSDI and SSI received was $610 and $291, respectively. Finally, the most prevalent primary impairment in the sample was a mental impairment (42 percent).
SSA offices; private vocational rehabilitation organizations; or New Hampshire and Virginia Vocational Rehabilitation agencies.
Project NetWork did not exist before the evaluation. However, there was a three-month pilot period before the evaluation started in which the intervention procedures were tested and refined.
The intervention consisted of case and referral management for providing rehabilitation and employment services to SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients and applicants who were disabled, blind, or both. The intervention included various methods of case management, with a different technique implemented in two of the eight sites included in the study. In six sites, case management services were similar, although the providers were different. SSA staff provided case management in Dallas and Forth Worth, private rehabilitation organizations provided case management in Phoenix-Las Vegas and Minneapolis, and staff from state vocational rehabilitation agencies were stationed in SSA field offices to provide case management in New Hampshire and Richmond. Using a less intensive model in Tampa-Carrollwood and Spokane-Coeur d'Alene, SSA provided referrals to outside providers instead of providing direct services to clients. In all locations, case and referral managers arranged for necessary assessments, developed individual employment plans, and identified and arranged for rehabilitation and employment services that clients needed to achieve the plan. The intervention also waived specific SSDI and SSI program rules that might have provided disincentives to work. The goal of these waivers was to encourage participation in Project NetWork and its return-to-work activities. These rules were waived in the same way for the intervention and comparison groups.
Members of the comparison condition did not receive case and referral management services from the intervention, but they could receive any available services in their communities. The comparison group received waivers for the same SSDI and SSI program rules as the intervention group.
None
Individuals participated in the intervention for up to 24 months.
U.S. Social Security Administration
The program took place in Dallas and Fort Worth, TX; Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; Minneapolis, MN; New Hampshire; Richmond, VA; Tampa and Carrollwood, FL; Spokane, WA; and Coeur d'Alene, ID. Depending on the site, program facilities were SSA offices; private vocational rehabilitation organizations; and state vocational rehabilitation agencies.
Mental health; physical health; substance use; well-being; work limitations