A Systematic Review of Factors Related to Employment in Transition-Age Youth With Visual Impairments

Purpose/Objective: Individuals with visual impairments, including transition-age youth, have much lower employment rates than their peers without disabilities. We conducted a systematic review to examine the factors that predict employment in American youth with visual impairments. Research/Method: We used a three-pronged approach to identify articles via databases search, hand search, and ancestral search. We then coded all articles for study and sample characteristics, study outcomes, and study quality. Results: Ten studies met inclusion criteria, nine of which reported secondary analysis of existing datasets. Previous work experience and postsecondary education were consistently significant positive predictors of employment across studies, with previous, self-initiated work experience being the strongest predictor. There is also some evidence for the importance of transportation and travel skills in obtaining employment. Conversely, demographic and disability characteristics generally were not significant predictors of employment. Conclusions/Implications: These results highlight the need to teach vocational skills, particularly job search skills, to youth with visual impairments and to support their completion of postsecondary education. Because most studies involved secondary analysis of older datasets, and five relied on the same dataset, additional research should be conducted using novel and current datasets in order to replicate and expand on these findings. Research is also needed to identify factors associated with completion of postsecondary education for youth with visual impairments as well as interventions that lead to positive postsecondary educational and employment outcomes.