The transition from adolescence to adulthood and employment is a significant challenge for the 8
million Americans living with intellectual disabilities. Up to 85% of people with ID (PwID) face unemployment as
adults despite receiving support services through a variety of local, state, and federal mechanisms. A critical
limitation exists in our ability to appropriately and accurately assess and predict the best fit between individuals'
skills and interests and job demands and activities. A valid and reliable method that both informs employment
services and predicts problems is needed to target supports, preventing job loss, and keeping PwID employed.
We developed the Vocational Fit Assessment (VFA), to provide accurate, person-centered measures
of work-related interests and adaptive behavior (Persch, 2015). The VFA consists of the: (1) VFA-Worker and
VFA-Job, which are used to assess workers' abilities and job demands, respectively, using common item
stems; (2) Demands & Abilities Transforming Algorithm, which transforms VFA data for analysis and clinical
action; and (3) Job Matching Reports, which visualizes vocational fit “VocFit” by identifying the pros and cons
of each potential job match and areas of need that are suitable for intervention (e.g., job training,
accommodations, modifications). Stakeholders (e.g., PwID, parents, providers, employers) engaged in the
shared decision-making process central to customized employment may use VFA data to guide intervention,
target potential problems, and monitor response to intervention.
Our long-term goal is to improve employment outcomes for PwID. The overall objective of this project,
which is the next step to achieve our long-term goal, is to quantify the reliability, validity, responsiveness, and
clinical utility of the VFA with PwID in diverse special education and vocational rehabilitation settings. We will
accomplish this objective by pursuing the following specific aims: Specific Aim 1: Quantify Vocational Fit
Assessment reliability and validity in the context of PwID in transition to employment. Specific Aim 2:
Determine Vocational Fit Assessment responsiveness. Specific Aim 3: Evaluate Vocational Fit
Assessment clinical utility.
We will utilize mixed-methods approaches to achieve these aims. A Comprehensive Assessment
Battery (CAB) including the VFA, criterion employment measures, and proxy measures will be administered
through an interview with the participant PwID (n=360) and those who know them well (i.e., reliable reporters)
on 3 occasions (baseline, after 12 months, and after 24 months). Psychometric evaluation of the VFA using
factor analysis, Rasch analysis, and multivariate multilevel growth curve modeling will follow data collection.
The CAB data, interviews, and focus groups with disability and employment experts will be used to define
meaningful anchors. This approach enables evaluation of VFA responsiveness to change using anchor and
distribution-based methods when combined with administration of the VFA on multiple occasions.
