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Project Description

The California Work Opportunities and Responsibilities to Kids program provides flexibility for each county to design and implement the program to cater to the local population. However, all plans include and 18- or 24-month work activity requirement and time limits on cash payments and other support services.

Project duration: Jan 1998 - Dec 2003

Sites studied include Alameda County, California

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

N=512 study participants recruited from a randomly generated list of Alameda County CalWORKs participants.

The criteria for individuals to be included in the study is:

1. age 18-59;
2. speak English, Spanish, or Vietnamese as their primary language;
3. be a parent or a caregiver in a 1- or 2- parent household;
4. not be a non-needy caregiver;
5. not have a permanent disability;
6. not be exempt from CalWORKs work requirements.

Recent Findings in Brief

06/23/03: Alameda County CalWorks Needs Assessment and Outcomes Study: Report #6: The Prevalence and Impact of Physical, Mental, and Behavioral Health Barriers on Work and Welfare Outcomes over 27 Months

Final Descriptive/Analytical Findings

• Physical health problems are the most prevalent among present and former welfare recipients.
• Mental health problems were experienced by 33 to 42% of study respondents at any given time.
• The least prevalent of health-related problems were possible illegal drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence problems.
• At Wave 3, significant associations with full time work status were found only for physical health, a few mental health barriers, and one domestic abuse barrier.
• When the effect of health related barriers on working full time is assessed while controlling for demographic, human capital, welfare history, family responsibility, and transportation variables, only a single health related barrier — two or more functional limitations -- is found significantly to predict lack of full time work at all three interview waves.
• While at Wave 2 one mental health and four physical health potential barriers predicted receipt of CalWORKs cash assistance, at Wave 3 only one marginally significant association was evident.
• The degree to which people who recognized a need for help actually received help varied as a function of the type of the potential barrier.
• Over the course of the study, access to services for those with a self-acknowledged need for help was lower at Wave 3 compared to Wave 1 for those assessed with a potential alcohol problem or a physical health problem.

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