Practice motivated research: Application of an evidence-informed prognostic model in vocational rehabilitation to increase the chance of employment at closure

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We argue that relevant research must focus on a problem of practice. We demonstrate this approach by developing a new product for practice to help counselors make informed vocational rehabilitation decisions.With only 18.7% of persons with disabilities employed in 2017, an accurate and simple prognostic tool could improve the effectiveness of the Individualized Plan for Employment and thus assist persons with disabilities to live independent lives. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the validity and practical relevance of a counseling decision support tool that accurately predicts clients' employment outcomes based on demographic characteristics and vocational rehabilitation factors. METHODS: Using a historical sample of 53,629 persons with disabilities who completed vocational rehabilitation in a state agency, we derived our prediction model using logistic regression with 90-day employment as the outcome. RESULTS: The final prognostic model was derived from 12 client demographics and 20 vocational rehabilitation factors. The model correctly classified the outcome for 72% of the clients and demonstrated strong calibration and discrimination. The resulting app is available here: www.ablescore.com. CONCLUSIONS: AbleScore accurately classifies client probability of employment at closure. The app therefore has immediate application in providing evidence-informed rehabilitation counseling to people with disabilities to improve the odds of employment at closure. © 2019 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Author Keywords

employment disability vocational rehabilitation AbleScore Prognostic tool Research-practice gap

Index Keywords

Employment adult female human male apprenticeship Article educational status Vocational education disability mental deficiency physical disability major clinical study evidence based practice counseling social work Work experience vocational rehabilitation decision support system workshop clinical research employment status disability severity Product development health care delivery demography job adaptation prediction receiver operating characteristic practice gap medical decision making prognosis

Author Affiliations

IServiceX, Inc., Marietta, GA, United States

BYU Marriott School of Business, Provo, UT, United States

Funding & Acknowledgements

No funding information

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Practice motivated research: Application of an evidence-informed prognostic model in vocational rehabilitation to increase the chance of employment at closure

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