Supported employment in China: a Guangzhou qualitative case study

Objective: This paper is the first to examine the experiences and perceptions of stakeholders involved in a supported employment programme for young people with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) in China, exploring its advantages and challenges and shedding light on the broader issues in the development of supported employment for people with IDD.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 young people with IDD, 13 of their parents and six job coaches. Thematic analysis was employed to identify the advantages and constraints of developing supported employment in China.

Results: Findings highlight the programme’s benefits in fostering competence, social integration, and job coach support. However, they also reveal challenges, including low employment motivation among young people with IDD, parenting approaches influenced by face concerns, the programme's inaccessibility, unaffordability, and ineffectiveness, and the government’s prioritisation of concentrative employment over supported employment. The paper argues that these challenges contribute to supported employment becoming a privileged opportunity, based on family resources and the severity of young people's impairments.

Conclusion: This study highlights the need to shift societal views to perceive disability through the lens of capability and potential, and offers evidence-based recommendations for implementing tailored interventions to strengthen supported employment in China and beyond.