Framing the shift to supported employment: Exploring the impacts of a person-centred programme evaluation approach through peer led participatory research

Employment support programs play a crucial role in assisting the unemployed in overcoming challenges to achieve their employment goals. The experiences of participants with multiple challenges provide insights into programme effectiveness in achieving personalised goals of employability, social development, and inclusion. This study contributes to the evaluation of supported employment by presenting a peer-derived framework grounded in participants lived experiences. Interviews with twelve participants revealed themes around employment barriers, participation opportunities, one-to-one support, achievements, and recommendations. Findings highlight the value of flexible, personalised pathways that not only enhance employability but also build confidence, motivation and support social inclusion. The developed framework including personalised support, meaningful activities, and self-perceived progress offers guidance for designing inclusive employment programmes and their evaluation. A key recommendation is the need for ongoing support to sustain employment among disadvantaged individuals managing social, mental, and physical health challenges. From an evaluation perspective, the framework demonstrates how participant-informed mechanisms—such as confidence and empowerment—drive employability and social skills, consistent with the Context–Mechanism–Outcome logic of realist evaluation. By situating peer-led evaluation within realist, empowerment, and utilisation-focused traditions, this study refines programme evaluation and strengthens its practical relevance. It shows how outcome-focused fidelity models, which capture structural quality, can be complemented by peer-led approaches capturing experiential quality. Together, these perspectives provide a holistic and transferable evaluation model that speaks to both programme design and lived experience. Beyond the local context, lessons learned highlight the value of inclusive, participatory evaluation methods in generating credible, stakeholder-driven insights and advancing more effective employment support practices globally.