Family Employment Awareness Training (FEAT) in Kansas: Description of a family-focused intervention and the rationale supporting it

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In 2010-2012, the Kansas Division on Health Care Finance used Medicaid Infrastructure Grant monies to fund the development and implementation of an employment intervention for young adults with disabilities and their families. Family Employment Awareness Training (FEAT), a family-focused employment intervention, had two major goals: (a) increase participants’ expectations for the competitive employment of people with individualized support needs (ISN) in their community and (b) increase participants’ knowledge of state and federal employment resources to support the employment of people with ISN. Short- and intermediate-term research indicates that FEAT increased participants’ expectations and knowledge (Francis, Gross, Turnbull, & Parent-Johnson, 2013; Francis, Gross, Turnbull, & Turnbull, 2013) and impacted long-term employment outcomes (Francis, Gross, Turnbull, & Turnbull, 2015). OBJECTIVE: In this manuscript, we provide a detailed description of FEAT, discuss the challenges of implementing it, and share future directions for this family-focused intervention. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: FEAT is a two-day, family-focused intervention designed to increase expectations and knowledge regarding the employment of people with disabilities. FEAT was iteratively designed, incorporating stakeholder feedback, resulting in model emphasizing small group activities, networking, and technical assistance. CONCLUSION: Currently, more rigorous research is being conducted to assess FEAT’s efficacy. Future plans include adapting the model to other domains (e.g., housing, community participation) and other target populations (e.g., teachers, employment specialists).