Quality of Life of Workers with an Intellectual Disability in Supported Employment M. A. Verdugo, F. B. Jorda ´n de Urrı ´es, C. Jenaro, C. Caballo and M. Crespo University Institute for Community Integration, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain Accepted for publication 29 July 2005 Aim This study investigate what characteristics of sup- ported employment increase quality of life and whether quality of life is higher in supported employment work- ers or the sheltered ones in Spain. Typicalness, the degree to which the characteristics of a job are the same as those of co-workers without a disability in the same company, was considered as one of the supported employment characteristics in the analysis. Method Two groups were put together to obtain the data using two questionnaires that were administered by trained professionals. Correlational analysis of the data and manova were also employed. Results No differences were found between the two groups regarding quality of life but results indicate that in supported employment, high levels of typicalness are associated with a higher quality of life and that the hand- ling of certain characteristics of support and the job, for example the hours of direct external support, are related to the enhancement of quality of life of the workers. Conclusions Workers in supported employment show the same quality of life as those in sheltered employment centers. In Spain, the greater the typicalness of the employment, the higher the quality of life. The implica- tions of this for the amount of direct external support for workers with disability is that such support should be used only when absolutely necessary – the minimum support necessary to encourage development. Keywords: quality of life, supported employment, typi- calness Introduction Supported employment is a form of inclusion into real work for people with disabilities which developed in the 1980s in the USA (Wehman et al. 1987; Verdugo & Jenaro 1993; Storey & Certo 1996; Mank 1998; Verdugo et al. 1998; Wehman & Bricout 1999). Lacking any clear definition or official regulation in Spain, the operative definition in this study is ‘Integrated employment for people with disabilities, who haven’t usually accessed the open labor market, into employers in the commu- nity, through the provision of appropriate support, inside and outside the workplace, throughout the work- ing life of the person if necessary, and with the same features, e.g. job characteristics and wages, as other workers without a disability in a similar job in the same company’ (Jorda ´n de Urrı ´es & Verdugo 2001). The use of natural supports is now considered to be one of the key aspects of the practical development in current best practice in supported employment (Calla- han 1992; Kiernan et al. 1993; Murphy & Rogan 1994; Hagner et al. 1995; Butterworth et al. 1996; Storey & Certo 1996; Wehman & Bricout 1999b). Natural supports at work can be defined as ‘any strategy, resource, rela- tion, or interaction provided by persons, procedures, instruments or equipment that (a) is typically available and/or is culturally suitable in the community environ- ments surrounding a person, (b) facilitates the obtaining of positive results in the professional and social spheres and (c) increases the quality of life of the person’ (Jorda ´n de Urrı ´es & Verdugo 2001). In relation to natural supports, typicalness has recently been advanced as the degree to which the char- acteristics of job accessibility, the job itself (duties, bene- fits, etc.) and the job environment (places, co-workers, etc.) are similar to those of co-workers without a disabil- ity in the same company (Mank 1997; Mank et al. 1997a,b, 1998, 1999, 2000; Olson et al. 2000; Jenaro et al. 2002). It is defined according to the four elements that comprise it: job acquisition and hiring, job characteris- tics, management of human resources and social aspects. These four characteristics provide a general index of Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 2006, 19, 309–316 Ó 2006 BILD Publications 10.1111/j.1468-3148.2005.00277.x