Factors associated with sustained community employment among adults with autism and co-occurring intellectual disability.
Wai Chan, Leann E Smith, Jinkuk Hong and 3 others
PMID 28691500WHAT IT FOUND
Among adults with autism and intellectual disability, only 14.3% kept paid community work for 18 months.
Daily living skills, family income, mother's social network, school inclusion, and living in larger-population areas were linked with staying employed.
Key findings
01Only 14.3% of the analytic sample sustained paid community employment over 18 months.
02A one SD increase in daily living skills was associated with four times greater likelihood of sustaining a paid job.
03In follow-up domain analyses, personal care, meal preparation, and housekeeping were linked with sustained employment, and personal care had the strongest association.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The final analysis included a small group of adults with autism and intellectual disability, so the associations may not generalise widely. Adults who changed employment status between the two waves were excluded, so the study compared sustained employment with no or minimal employment rather than comparing people who obtained a job with people who kept it. School inclusion was measured with one item from an earlier wave, so duration, timing, and quality of inclusion were not captured. The study was observational, so it cannot show that daily living skills, family income, maternal network, school inclusion, or larger population size caused sustained employment. Employment information was reported by mothers and reduced to a yes/no outcome over 18 months, so job quality and specific workplace supports were not examined.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata lists NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support. The article text does not include an author conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as evidence that training daily living skills, increasing family income, moving to a larger-population area, or changing school history will cause sustained employment. The study was observational, excluded adults who changed employment status between waves, and the authors state it did not fully address direction of effects.