Comparing Outcomes of Supported Education Programs
The aim for this review was to understand (a) what outcomes have been reported for SEd interventions and (b) what components in SEd modality and interventions have been successful.
Figure 1. PRISMA Flow Diagram of Study Selection.
Search Strategy
The search strategy examined literature published in English from 1980 through 2023 focused on supported education interventions, post-secondary students, and mental health conditions.
The sources of the included studies were drawn from the following databases:
A) PubMed. The keyword “supported education” searched in title and abstract
B) PsycINFO. The keyword “supported education” searched in title and abstract
C) EBSCOHost (Academic Search Premier, ERIC, and MEDLINE). The following keywords were grouped into the following four categories:
1. Supported education: “supported education” (in Title or Abstract)
2. Education setting: “university students” / “college students” / “undergraduate students” / “higher education students” (in Abstract)
3. Psychiatric disabilities: “mental health” / “mental illness” / “mental disorder” / “psychiatric illness” (in Abstract)
4. Study type: “trial” / “study” / “experiment” (in Abstract)
The following search string was used to search for relevant articles in EBSCOHost which included Academic Search Premier, ERIC, and MEDLINE: “TI supported education OR AB supported education AND AB (university students or college students or undergraduate students or higher education students) AND AB (mental health or mental illness or mental disorder or psychiatric illness) AND AB (trial or study or experiment ).” The search strategy in EBSCOHost was also supplemented by applying a filter for articles only with a population age over 13 years old.
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
1. Published between 1980 and 2023 (Papers were included if they were published since 1980. This year was chosen because SEd first emerged as a provisional concept in the 1980s.)
2. Written in English.
3. Examined a supported education intervention.
4. Population included postsecondary education students with mental health conditions.
5. Used RCT, quasi-experimental, experimental designs, open trial, and implementation study design.
Exclusion Criteria:
1. Not related to a supported education intervention, postsecondary education students, or mental health conditions.
2. Focus groups, surveys, individual case studies, review articles, book chapters, editorials, and commentaries.
Abbreviations:
IPS= Individual Placement and Support
SEd=Supported Education
SMHCs= serious mental health conditions
MHCs= Mental Health Conditions
Note. Articles are organized based on program type Combined SEd and Supported Employment, blue; Traditional SEd, Green; Self-contained classroom, Orange; Peer-delivered SEd, yellow; Enhanced SEd (i.e. cognitive remediation), purple; Occupational therapy-based SEd, gray. SEd=Supported Education, SMHCs= serious mental health conditions, MHCs= Mental Health Conditions; IPS = Individual Placement & Support; SE = Supported Employment; QOL = Quality of Life; TAY = Transition-age youth; IPS-WFM = Individual Placement & Support-Workplace Fundamentals Model, StAB = Start in education and employment, CAP = Consumer as Provider, CAR = Career Advancement Resources, ACES = Academic Coaching for Educational Success, MHA = Mental Health Association NCT = Non-Cognitive Therapy, ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act SEP = Supported Education Program, RTE = Redirection Through Education, SEER = Supported Education Enhancing Rehabilitation.