About Face

Intervention (standard name)

The intervention provided access to supplemental resources in the Veterans Employment Resource Center (VERC). The standard VERC services included internet and phone access for job search activities, resume writing supports, video training for applying to and interviewing for jobs, and two video-recorded practice interviews. In addition, the program provided intervention participants with the About Face vocational manual and in-person classes during the week following study enrollment.

About Face—Self Study

Intervention (standard name)

The About Face—Self Study intervention provided participants with a vocational manual titled About Face in addition to standard services from the Veterans Employment Resource Center (VERC). The standard VERC services included internet and phone access for job search activities, resume writing supports, video training for applying to and interviewing for jobs, and two video-recorded practice interviews.

Homeless Women Veterans Program (HWVP)

Intervention (standard name)

The HWVP provided case management services and mental health RT to women veterans who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The study authors defined RT as “a program that houses clients in a central location and provides clinical and social services to the clients while they are resident[s].” The program was implemented in eleven Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers across the United States. The specific clinical and rehabilitation services varied by center, though all provided stable, safe housing and support from professional staff.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Transitional Work Experience (TWE) [as compared with Individual Placement and Support (IPS)]

TWE, part of the VA’s Compensated Work Therapy Program, helped participants develop work restoration plans and provided a rehabilitative work setting within the VA, other federal agencies, or private businesses in the community. TWE participants received at least 30 hours per week of structured vocational rehabilitation activities and were assigned to therapeutic work placements for six months to one year. Participants also received case management to help them gain and enhance their employment skills and find and maintain competitive employment.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Transitional Work Experience (TWE) followed by Typical Services for Competitively Employed Veterans (CE) [as compared with Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Employment Services]

TWE, part of the VA’s Compensated Work Therapy Program, helped participants develop work restoration plans and provided a rehabilitative work setting within the VA, other federal agencies, or private businesses in the community. After their participation in TWE, participants moved into CE, during which they could receive standard VA services (including VA health care, education benefits, home loan assistance, disability compensation, and vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance).

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Typical Services for Competitively Employed Veterans (CE) [as compared with Transitional Work Experience (TWE)]

CE participants were military veterans who found unsubsidized jobs in the competitive market on their own. They received the standard VA services, including VA health care, education benefits, home loan assistance, disability compensation, and vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance, but no specific employment-focused intervention. Veterans could receive the standard services indefinitely.