Study Details | Pathways to Work

28561.01-Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI) Compared with Individual Placement and Support

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: Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI) (as compared to Individual Placement and Support [IPS])

Population and employment barriers:

Specific employment barriers (Homelessness, Mental illness), Young adults (aged 16-24)

Services provided:

Financial education, Training, Work and work-based learning (Work experience)

Setting: Urban only

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

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.

Time period of study:

Researchers conducted the evaluation from November 2009 to June 2010.

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

Sample characteristics

Age

Mean age	22 years
Young adults	100%

Sex

Female	17%
Male	83%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	38%
White, not Hispanic	10%
Asian	2%
More than one race	33%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	17%

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.

Participant employment and public benefit status

Were employed

29%

Participant education

Had a high school diploma or GED

60%

Specific employment barriers

Had a mental illness	100%
Were experiencing homelessness	100%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

The name of the implementing organization was not provided.

Intervention services:

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.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

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 supports. 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.

Study publications

Ferguson, Kristin. (2018). Employment outcomes from a randomized controlled trial of two employment interventions with homeless youth, Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research 9(1). Available at https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/696372.

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Study of Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI) Compared with Individual Placement and Support (IPS)