Development and testing of the Community Employment Survey

BACKGROUND:Family Employment Awareness Training (FEAT) was developed and implemented in Kansas for the purposes of raising expectations for employment and increasing knowledge of resources to support the employment of people with disabilities. In 2012 we developed and piloted a survey to assess seven key constructs related to the content taught in FEAT and other findings in the literature. The seven constructs assessed by the Community Employment Survey are: (a) expectations for competitive employment, (b) knowledge of employment resources, (c) barriers to attaining competitive employment, (d) access to and use of resources, (e) competitive employment outcomes, (f) and perceptions of FEAT, and (g) demographics. In 2013, we field-tested the survey as a pre-test measure (without the items related to the perceptions of FEAT) and preliminary analysis of this first year of data indicated that we maintained or improved reliability with the larger sample used in the field-testing. OBJECTIVE: In this manuscript, we provide a description of the development and testing of the Community Employment Survey and share implications and future uses for this survey. INSTRUMENT DESCRIPTION: The Community Employment Survey measures seven constructs (i.e., expectations, knowledge, resources, barriers, employment outcomes, demographics, and perceptions of FEAT), each of which is relevant to those interested in competitive employment for individuals with disabilities. CONCLUSION: The Community Employment Survey is a valid and reliable instrument that can be adapted to meet the needs of multiple stakeholders, including those interested in evaluating training programs.

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