Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Casto, Kathleen

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Research has shown that paid work meets basic psychological needs such as autonomy, sense of purpose and belonging, and is thus, critical to an individual’s wellbeing. People with mental disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed in comparison to neurotypical adults, and while there are support services to help, there is limited research on how these programs affect the wellbeing of people with mental disabilities. The purpose of the present research is to explore how supported employment affects wellbeing, using a mixed methods research design. Supported employment programs are in place to help people with disabilities get hired in jobs that are well-matched to their skills and can provide them social connections. Study 1 used US based archival data to analyze how factors such as funding and availability of these programs in each state affected state-level wellbeing levels. I predicted that in states that have funding and higher availability of supported employment programs, the wellbeing of people with mental disabilities will be higher. For Study 2, a survey consisting of a wellbeing measure and two free responses questions for qualitative data was given to 22 participants with mental disabilities. I predicted that people who are employed would also have higher wellbeing levels than unemployed people with mental disabilities. Results showed that the availability of supported employment programs did not significantly predict wellbeing, nor was this relationship moderated by funding (Study 1). Similarly, in Study 2 I did not find a significant difference in self-reported wellbeing between the small sample of individuals with mental disabilities who are employed versus unemployed. However, qualitative assessment of the responses written by participants shed new light on important moderating factors in the work environment that affect wellbeing. Future research should continue to investigate how paid work opportunities affect the wellbeing of people with mental disabilities with special attention on negative aspects of work environments for this population.

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