Adapting individual placement and support for unemployed adults with autism spectrum disorder

Background Employment benefits adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in many ways, yet unemployment remains high. Existing interventions use predominantly “train-place” methods, emphasizing pre-employment training before competitive employment. As an alternative, Individual Placement and Support is a “place-train” model, originally developed for people with serious mental illness, that is rapidly spreading to new populations, including adults with ASD. Adaptations to evidence-based interventions for new groups should receive scientific validation. Objective This article outlines the scientific steps to adapt Individual Placement and Support to serve the needs of adults with ASD. Methods The authors describe a scientific approach to developing, implementing, studying, and disseminating Individual Placement and Support to adults with ASD. Results A five-step approach to adapting Individual Placement and Support to adults with ASD includes 1) Involving stakeholders; 2) Examining available data from different perspectives; 3) Conducting a pilot study to establish acceptance, feasibility, proximal and distal outcomes, and adaptations; 4) Conducting comparative effectiveness research; 5) Translating research to policy. Conclusions Evidence-based interventions can transfer usefully to new populations and settings, but the process should follow scientific methods. As an example, this article describes a scientific process for adapting Individual Placement and Support to adults with ASD.