Skip to main content
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Can a participant-centered approach to setting and pursuing goals help adults with low incomes become economically stable? Impacts of four employment coaching programs 21 months after enrollment (Moore et al., 2024)

Review Guidelines

Causal Evidence Guidelines

Absence of conflict of interest.

Citation

Moore, Q., Wu, A., Kautz, T., Kent, C., McConnell, S., McInnis, N., Patnaik, A., & Schochet, O. (2024). Can a participant-centered approach to setting and pursuing goals help adults with low incomes become economically stable? Impacts of four employment coaching programs 21 months after enrollment. OPRE Report #2024-061. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [Family Development and Self-Sufficiency]

Highlights

Intervention Examined

Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS)

Features of the Intervention

The Iowa Department of Human Rights implements the FaDSS program through contracts with local social service organizations. The FaDSS program has provided case management services to TANF recipients since 1988. FaDSS provides voluntary employment coaching alongside standard TANF case management services for TANF recipients. TANF participants determined to be at higher risk of long-term TANF usage may be referred for FaDSS services by their TANF case manager.

Features of the Study

The study was a randomized controlled trial that assigned 863 eligible individuals to a treatment or a control group. Eligible individuals in seven FaDSS sites across Iowa were enrolled in the study from June 2018 to November 2019. The 430 study participants assigned to the treatment group were offered FaDSS services in addition to receiving required TANF case management. The 433 participants assigned to the control group were required to receive standard TANF case management.

Most study participants female (94 percent), and the average study participant’s household included two children. Nearly half of study participants were White, non-Hispanic (48 percent), another third were Black, non-Hispanic (36 percent), and 12 percent were Hispanic. At baseline, one third of study participants reported having worked for pay in the past 30 days (34 percent). A quarter did not have a high school diploma or GED (24 percent).

The study relied on multiple data sources, including a baseline survey at study enrollment, 9- and 21-month follow-up surveys, and administrative data on quarterly earnings, unemployment insurance, and public assistance receipt. The authors used statistical models to compare the outcomes of treatment and control group participants and survey weights to adjust for survey nonresponse.

Findings

Earnings and wages

  • The study did not find significant differences between FaDSS and control group participants in earnings.

Employment

  • The study did not find significant differences between FaDSS and control group participants in employment.

Employer benefits receipt

  • The study did not find significant differences between FaDSS and control group participants in employment with fringe benefits.

Public benefits receipt

  • The study did not find significant differences between FaDSS and control group participants in TANF, SNAP, and UI benefit receipt.

Education and skills gains

  • The study found that FaDSS participants were 5 percentage points more likely than control group participants to have received a certificate, license, or diploma from a training program (7% vs. 2 %) at the 9-month follow-up.

Considerations for Interpreting the Findings

The study authors estimated multiple related impacts on outcomes related to earnings and wages, employment, public benefits receipt, employer benefits receipt, and education and skills gains. Performing multiple statistical tests on related outcomes makes it more likely that some impacts will be found statistically significant purely by chance, and not because they reflect program effectiveness. To help address this risk, the study authors pre-specified four confirmatory outcomes: a scaled measure of self-regulation and goal-related skills, earnings, a scaled measure of economic wellbeing, and TANF assistance receipt. However, the authors did not perform statistical adjustments to account for the multiple tests, so the number of statistically significant findings in these domains is likely to be overstated.

Causal Evidence Rating

The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that any estimated effects are attributable to FaDSS and not to other factors.

Additional Sources

Moore, Q., Kautz, T., McConnell, S., Schochet, O., & Wu, A. (2023). Can a participant-centered approach to setting and pursuing goals help adults with low incomes become economically stable? Short-term impacts of four employment coaching programs. OPRE Report #2023-139. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Reviewed by CLEAR

June 2026