Research| Questions and Answers |

Research
Questions and Answers

1) Do the Adkins Program Participants Obtain Employment or Further Training? 2) Do Participants Retain Jobs? 3) Do The Self-Esteem and/or Attitudes About Work of The Participants in The Adkins Life Skills Program Become More Positive? 4) Do Life Skills Participants Come To Class, Attend Regularly And Participate? 5) Do Participants Increase Their Knowledge About Themselves, Occupations and the Job and Career Choice Process? 6) Is There A Positive Change in the Career-Related Behaviors of Participants, Specifically Their Career Maturity and Career Self-Efficacy? 7) Do The Participants Learn How To Make Better Career Choices? 8) How Well Do Life Skills Participants Participate in Other Educational Programs (i.e. Reading, GED, Vocational Education, ESL, etc.) 9) How Satisfied Are the Participants With the Overall Life Skills Experience? The Adkins Program has a twofold goal: to help clients get immediate jobs and to make long range career choices and plans. The research evidence is presented below in terms of the questions stated above. A more detailed description of each study is included in a PDF file entitled Summary of Research on the Adkins Life Skills Program: Career Development Series. See also the complete reference list of theoretical articles and research studies.   1) Do the Adkins Program Participants Obtain Employment or Further Training? Employability Skills Project, New York City Department of General Services A ten month follow- up of a pilot project using the Adkins Program with people on public assistance showed that 38% of graduates were employed at the conclusion of the study versus 1% in a comparison group. The average length of time on public assistance for those who obtained jobs was 5.7 years. 24% were in various education programs, 25% were attending vocational training programs and 48% were still in Work Experience Programs (24% were involved in more than one of these activities). Hagin et al. Another Chance A model program including the Adkins Life Skills Program as a core component was designed for 60 adults with learning disabilities. The report of employment and training outcomes noted that 52 % of the 60 dyslexic adults were employed before the intervention, but by the end all (an additional 48%) were employed In addition, 70% had made specific plans to continue their education New York Community Trust Grant Project Nine agencies in New York City who served welfare clients, but offered no help on employment-related activities were selected to install the Adkins Program Prior to intervention all clients were receiving welfare benefits and had no involvement in education, training or employment activities Positive employment and training outcomes were reported by the staff of the 9 agencies who monitored the progress of their clients on work-related activities. Of 448 clients from the nine agencies, 22% had obtained full-time employment and 12% had obtained internship positions. 24% were going out on job interviews, 42% were involved in vocational training, 22% were enrolled in literacy or GED programs, 1% were in college, 38% had realistic career/employability plans, 47% had completed useful resumes. Urban League of Essex County, NJ From a total of 257 out of school and out of work youth, 16-19 years of age, 197 or 77% were successfully placed in unsubsidized employment or training programs 129 or 50.2% were placed in educational programs-- of those 53 (20.6%) returned to high school; 41 (16.0%) went on to higher education; 35 (13.6%) were placed in technical training programs 84 (32.7%) were placed in unsubsidized employment 19 (7.4%) were placed in both employment and educational programs Cumberland County, NJ JTPA Program For a group of 32 participants (27 female and 5 male) there was an 87% job placement rate Schenectady Community College: 67% in unsubsidized employment for people who completed the program; 16.6% in unsubsidized employment for those who finished part of the program but did not complete it because they became employed. Manuele: 20 economically disadvantaged, unemployed white adults (17 women, 3 men) were given the Adkins Program After the intervention 55% were employed at the time of the posttest compared to 15% who were employed at the time of the pretest 40% of the group had become enrolled in an educational program of some type The HOPE Program: In a comprehensive program for homeless adults which includes the Adkins Life Skills Program as one of its core components, 72% from eight cycles over a three year period became employed. [ TOP ] 2) Do Participants Retain Jobs? Bergmann: Employability Skills Project, New York City Department of General Services: Ten months after the conclusion of a pilot project using The Adkins Program with public assistance recipients, 79% of those were employed. Two-thirds of those employed had completely closed their welfare cases. Net welfare savings more than offset the program's direct and indirect costs. Excluding the indirect costs, net welfare savings exceeded the direct costs by 52%. The Hope Program: In one study, job retention rates for 140 homeless graduates of the Hope program were reported as 88% for the first three 3 months and 60% at the end of one year. In another study, program outcomes for 124 clients were reported with job retention rates for 90 days reported as 89% for those without children living at home and 75% for those with children living at home. Schenectady Community College: 42.6% of all public assistance recipients had their cases closed by the Department of Social Services as a result of gaining full-time employment following participation in the Life Skills Program--based upon monitoring actual client status in the job market over a ninety day period following completion of or termination from the program. [ TOP ] 3) Do The Self-Esteem and/or Attitudes About Work of The Participants in The Adkins Life Skills Program Become More Positive? Shandera: Incarcerated subjects in Texas ranked the Life Skills contribution to improved self-confidence as number one in their evaluation of the program Colon-Wagner: Participants who completed her Adkins Life Skills/Work Experience Program demonstrated higher levels of self-esteem, career maturity and greater psychological preparation for the world of work. Manuele: Experimental subjects (17 unemployed women and 3 men) made statistically significant increases in their belief in the value of accomplishing educational and career development tasks. They also showed significant increases in confidence in their ability to cope successfully with these tasks. Curcio: Life Skills employment and training outcomes for women on welfare who experienced domestic violence cited the increased self-knowledge and self-esteem of women who experienced "comfort, security and respect in their Adkins Life Skills groups". New York State Adult Basic Education Study: 53.5% 0f 227 persons indicated that participation in Life Skills helped them like themselves more Kahn: Participation in a job interviewing skills workshop had a significant positive effect on Vocational Maturity attitudes of incarcerated youth as measured by the Career Maturity Inventory Attitude Scale Ursillo: Learning disabled adolescents showed significant differences on three scales of attitudes when compared with a matched control group. Following the Life Skills intervention, the experimental subjects believed in the importance of accomplishing developmental tasks, gained confidence in their ability to accomplish necessary vocational choice and decision-making tasks and exhibited more mature attitudes towards the vocational choice process. Cullinane: The Life Skills Educators, who rated study participants, all agreed that there was a perceptible shift in the remedial group's morale after the first few sessions and that, by the end of the intervention, there was a striking positive change in the students' attitudes toward themselves and toward work Lovett: High school students in a working class suburb demonstrated a significantly greater overall readiness to deal with the vocational tasks of their life stage than a matched control group [ TOP ] 4) Do Life Skills Participants Come To Class, Attend Regularly And Participate? New York State Adult Basic Education Study: 227 subjects in Adult Basic Education Programs in 13 New York State cities had the following attendance rate: 50.9% attended all the time 39.5% missed only occasionally Miami Dade Community College: Attendance in the Adkins Life Skills Program was approximately 90% compared to a system wide average of 60-70% New York Community Trust Report: Staff of nine participating agencies monitored the progress of 448 clients and reported excellent attendance and participation in Life Skills groups with high levels of client satisfaction with the program. Prince Georges County, Maryland: Quote from the report: "Group members (young mothers on welfare) appeared interested and motivated about what Life Skills had to offer from the onset of classes. This was evident by the regular attendance of the group members. If a member encountered difficulty in classes or in getting to class, other members volunteered to be of assistance." [ TOP ] 5) Do Participants Increase Their Knowledge About Themselves, Occupations and the Job and Career Choice Process? New York State Adult Basic Education Study: In ratings by 227 students in Adult Basic Education Programs in 13 cities in New York State 67.4% said they learned more about themselves 86.6% said Life Skills helped them realize the importance of job training On a scale of 1 (low) to 4 (high), mean overall ratings by students of their learning ranged between 2.8 and 3.5 75-100% said they learned a lot or a great deal about 29 of 32 learning objectives of the program, as follows: 83.5% learned more about their interests 78.0% learned more about their abilities 78.7% gained more confidence-in-self 87.7% learned more about job duties 87.8% education and training requirements 78.6% working conditions 75.2% advancement opportunities 85.2% where to look for information about jobs 69.6% how to get into training programs 86.6% how to understand want ads 82.1% how to use the telephone 34.8% how to write business letters 50.0% how to use employment services 70.0% getting job information from friends 70.0% how to present themselves in employment agency interviews 83.4% learned more about job selection 85.7% job choice 87.8% identifying the right job 100% identifying non-job-related goals 80.0% steps needed to reach goals 80.0% setting up a plan 90.0% making a time schedule 93.3% selecting and describing work goals 100% learning needed steps to goals 85.7% setting up a time schedule 75.9% how to complete a personal data form 82.0% how to complete sensitive or difficult questions 83.1% how to complete a sample job application 88.4% the importance of the job interview 84.1% how to complete a successful interview 82.4% responsibilities as an employee 80.4% employers' responsibilities to employees. Manuele: 75% of Adult Basic Education students in the study demonstrated significant increases in the amount and specificity of occupational information from when they began the Adkins Program. Shandera: 97.3% of the incarcerated subjects said Life Skills was "very helpful" in learning about jobs and 2.7% said "helpful." Other new learning mentioned with high ratings were: Knowledge about how to answer sensitive or difficult questions on employment applications, and Knowledge about how to write a business letter to inquire about a job. Lovett: Experimental subjects (in a suburban, working class high school) demonstrated a significantly increased knowledge of the US occupational structure and their preferred occupational group in terms of job characteristics, education and training, duties, techniques for getting jobs, employment prospects and places and hours of work. They also demonstrated a clear understanding of themselves in terms of their interests, abilities and their work related values [ TOP ] 6) Is There A Positive Change in the Career-Related Behaviors of Participants, Specifically Their Career Maturity and Career Self-Efficacy? Ursillo: Subjects with learning disabilities who participated in the Adkins Program, in comparison with a control group, were significantly more able to: identify their interests and abilities and explore occupations in a meaningful way. They were also more concerned with vocational choice, more oriented to the demands of the work world and they showed a major increase the number of vocational resources which they could utilize as a result of participation in the intervention Cullinane: Main Stream and Remedial Community College participated in the Adkins Life Skills Program whereas a control group did not. Both groups of participating students demonstrated statistically significantly greater ability to identify and describe their interests, abilities, vocationally related experiences and personal characteristics in comparison with the control group. Life Skills students had also engaged in many more vocational exploratory activities and had utilized expert resources. Contreras: "Aggressive" high school seniors participating in the Adkins Life Skills Program, significantly decreased physically aggressive behavior and physical disturbances in the classroom. Life Skills, the author concluded, could be used an important part of efforts to mainstream Special Education students into the broader classroom. Wald: The out-of-school and out-of-work students who participated in the Adkins Program were able to adequately and appropriately fill out a "personal data form" and a job application form for employment, whereas students who had not participated in the program were unable to do so. There was a significant difference between the two groups on a rating of how effectively students performed in a video taped employment interview. Students who participated in the Adkins Life Skills Program were significantly better able to identify and describe their abilities, interests, experiences and personal characteristics as reflected in their work, school and leisure time activities Those students who participated in the program were significantly more able to demonstrate critical knowledge gained about a range of jobs, occupational areas and industries Manuele: After taking the Adkins Life Skills Program, Adult Education participants showed a statistically significant increase on eight scales that assessed various aspects of Career Maturity: Orientation to Education, Orientation to Work, Concern with Choice, Self Appraisal of Interests and Abilities, Self Appraisal of Personality Characteristics, Self Appraisal of Values, Exploring Occupations, and Using Resources. 70% of the clients showed improvement in their ability to define their interests. 80% of the clients showed improvement in their ability to define their abilities. than students who had not participated. Lovett: High school students demonstrated a significantly increased ability to formulate a more specific career choice as well as increasing their commitment to and certainty of that choice. They were able to identify interests, abilities and values associated with that choice and to describe educational requirements, status, income range, job outlook and possible places of employment associated with their career choice, whereas control subjects remained the same Burton: Hispanic women in a Head Start Center demonstrated increased Career Self-Efficacy with 80% reported being very certain about their ability to obtain a job as compared to 40% on the pre-test. Kahn: Participation in a Life Skills Job Interviewing Workshop significantly increased the rated job interviewing skills of a group of incarcerated male youth. New York State Adult Basic Education Study: 227 students in Adult Basic Education Programs in 13 cities were enrolled in the Adkins Career Development Program. Of these (as rated by Life Skills Educators): 74.4% showed increased motivation for employment by the end of the program 72.7% improved in self-confidence and the ability to speak in a group 62.2% improved in their ability to express ideas in writing 64.4% improved their motivation for learning Rodriguez: Significant changes in Career Maturity and Internal Locus of Control were found for young Hispanic women in their first semester of college after participation in two career interventions, one of which included the Adkins Life Skills Program. Grothe: Welfare recipients in an Adult Basic Education Program exposed to each of three Life Skills interventions performed significantly better than a control group not exposed to the Life Skills method on ratings of the behavior demonstrated in Job Interviewing Skills in a simulated interview. Reading comprehension levels and Age were not significant factors affecting acquisition of interview behavior. Prince Georges County, MD: The young welfare mothers in the Life Skills Program learned about the vocational relevance of good grooming and hygiene habits. They welcomed the candor about unkempt hair, penciled-on eyebrows and inappropriate dress. Noticeable changes were commented on by staff members as well as group members. [ TOP ] 7) Do The Participants Learn How To Make Better Career Choices? Manuele: At the end of the intervention 50% of the Adult Education group had fairly firm occupational choices and these choices were specified and focused, 30% had fashioned reasonable alternatives for themselves 20% needed more time and exploration before they were ready to choose. Cullinane: Life Skills Community College students, both remedial and mainstream, demonstrated significant gains in overall readiness for vocational choice, whereas the comparison groups did not. Life Skills students also demonstrated considerably more certainty about their vocational choices. Lovett: High School students in the study demonstrated significantly increased levels of Career Decisiveness, whereas control subjects remained the same. Experimental subjects used more expert resources than others in the control group Shandera: Subjects ranked "help in knowing how to make a choice between different jobs" as the most important intrinsic value of the Life Skills experience. [ TOP ] 8) How Well Do Life Skills Participants Participate In Other Educational Programs (I.E. Reading, GED, Vocational Education, ESL, Etc.) New York State Adult Basic Education Study: 79.9% reported their Life Skills experience caused them to work harder in their other Adult Basic Education classes. 64.3% said Life Skills helped them realize the importance of the High School Equivalency Course and exam (GED) 43.6% reported that because of Life Skills, they attended the Adult Education Program more frequently Prince Georges County, MD: Slow readers acknowledged that practice and assistance from other group members resulted in improved reading skills. This was true of writing exercises as well. [ TOP ] 9) How Satisfied are Participants with the Overall Life Skills Experience? New York State Adult Basic Education Study: 97.3% would recommend Life Skills to friends 47.7% rate it "one of the best programs;" 50.0% "a good program" 81.5% said Life Skills had given them hope of finding a job that was good for them Cullinane: Virtually all the remedial and mainstream community college students reported that they would recommend the course to a friend. Lovett: High school students and their Life Skills Educators rated the program positively. Student ratings indicated that the program was effective in both the affective and cognitive domains of Career Development. Life Skills Educator ratings indicated that students made substantial gains on the learning objectives of each of the units. Shandera: 84.9% of the incarcerated subjects felt Life Skills was "one of the best" programs; 15.1% said it was a "good program" 100% said they would recommend Life Skills to their friends. Ursillo: All of the learning disabled experimental subjects rated the program "good" or "one of the best I've been in" Warren County Employment and Training Program Study: All participants for six Life Skills groups thought it was a wonderful experience. The things they were most grateful for were: learning about themselves and the world of work and having the group as a support system. [ TOP ]