A survey on job coaches' perceptions and attitudes to facilitate coworker natural supports for people with disabilities in supported employment

Abstract

This survey was conducted to identify job coaches’ perceptions and attitudes toward coworker natural supports in supported employment. A total of 202 job coaches working in Wisconsin and Minnesota responded to the questionnaire. The results shows job coaches strongly agree that coworker natural supports are important for people with disabilities. There was disagreement among job coaches about their priority role as a facilitator for coworker natural supports. Job coaches highly agree that there are many obstacles to facilitate natural supports such as coworker’s lack of knowledge, work environment, and employer indifference. Job coaches service about 15 clients on average. About 10 clients out of 15 clients receive coworker natural supports. The most frequent natural support is emotional support. Physical supports, social supports, training supports were provided by coworkers and employers. Recommendations were suggested by the researcher. Both job coaches and service agencies have to make the effort to improve coworkers’ understanding and empathy for people with disabilities. In addition, the efforts should be done promptly before the client works or at early stages of employment. More comprehensive and systematic approaches are required to facilitate coworker natural supports. Future research dealing with macro level cooperation among many stakeholders is also recommended.