Promoting Social Relationships and Integration for Supported Employees in Work Settings.

This monograph discusses findings from a 3-year project that investigated strategies that could be used to promote the social integration and relationships between young adults with and without disabilities in supported employment settings. Four studies were conducted. The first study was a descriptive study that described the nature, development, and quality of close social relationships between supported employees and their co-workers. The second study looked at the efficacy of two types of interventions (contextual and co-worker) and the influence of the employment training specialist on those interventions. Through a national survey, the third study was designed to determine the variables (i.e., agency, supported employee, service provider, workplace intervention) that predicated successful integration outcomes. The last study was a substudy of the third study and was designed specifically to look at supported employees who had been involved in co-worker interventions and were judged to be either successfully or unsuccessfully integrated into work settings. The monograph contains working papers of these studies. In addition, two other concept papers are included which provide further information about social integration and employment settings. Finally, a section is included that reflects some possible applications from the studies. (CR) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Promoting Social Relationships and Integration for Supported Employees in Work Settings