Study Details | Pathways to Work

3350.3350.02-Study of Employing a

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it is a high-attrition randomized controlled trial that does not adjust estimated impacts for potentially important differences between the intervention and comparison groups.

Intervention: Employing and Moving People Off Welfare and Encouraging Responsibility (EMPOWER)

Population and employment barriers:

Employment status (Employed), Parenting (Parents), Public Benefits Recipients (Public benefits recipients)

Services provided:

Basic skills/bridge programs, Cash/Income Supports, Childcare and/or early education, Job development, Job readiness, Job search assistance, Physical health services, Soft skills training, Transportation assistance

Setting: Urban only

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

A total of 2,934 cases were randomly assigned among four research sites (2,538 cases in three sites in Phoenix, AZ and 396 cases in a Navajo community in Arizona). Of these cases, 2,601 were receiving cash assistance, and 333 were receiving Transitional Medical Assistance. Random assignment took place in October 1995 through July 1997 according to the following ratio: 25 percent to the intervention group, 25 percent to the comparison group, and 50 percent to a nonstudy group. This review reports on the 294 cases receiving Transitional Medical Assistance in the initial case cohort who were randomly assigned in one of the three Phoenix sites. Among these participants, 148 cases were randomly assigned to the intervention group, and 146 were randomly assigned to the comparison group. Reviews elsewhere on this site discuss the full sample of cases in Phoenix, the sample of Phoenix cases receiving cash assistance at baseline, and the Navajo sample.

Time period of study:

Evaluators studied EMPOWER for 30 to 36 months, beginning with random assignment in October 1995.

Pathways only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

The authors did not present characteristics for this sample.

Sex

Female	98%
Male	2%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	12%
White, not Hispanic	40%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	45%
Unknown, not reported, or other	2%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Family status

Parents

100%

Participant employment and public benefit status

Were employed	100%
Public benefits recipients	100%
Were long-term cash assistance recipients	35%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

Arizona Department of Economic Security

Intervention services:

Clients assigned to the intervention condition were subject to EMPOWER polices, which included the following: cash assistance limited to 24 months in any 60-month period; restricted eligibility for cash assistance for single parents who were minors; mandatory participation in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) for teen parents; sanctions for not complying with JOBS; extended transitional child care and medical assistance; cancellation of the 100-hour rule, which made two-parent families ineligible for cash assistance when the primary wage earner worked more than 100 hours per month; and individual development accounts in which individuals could deposit money for training or education, and which was not considered countable income.

Mandatory services:

Participation was mandatory for parents who were minors (ages 13 to 15), and sanctions were imposed on all participants for noncompliance with JOBS requirements.

Comparison services:

Clients assigned to the comparison condition were not subject to EMPOWER policies.

Study publications

Kornfeld, Robert, Laura Peck, Diane Porcari, John Straubinger, Zacharay Johnson, Clemintina Cabral, and Grergory Mills (1999). Evaluation of the Arizona EMPOWER welfare reform demonstration—Impact study interim report, Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates.

Mills, Gregory, Robert Kornfeld, Diane Porcari, and Don Lalibery (2001). Evaluation of the Arizona EMPOWER welfare reform demonstration—Final report, Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates. Available at https://www.abtassociates.com/files/Insights/reports/2001/2001367766680_93366.pdf.

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

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Study of Employing and Moving People Off Welfare and Encouraging Responsibility (EMPOWER) Phoenix—Transitional Medical Assistance Recipients