• Many critical life events had already occurred to individuals prior to their involvement with ABLE programs.

• The incidence of alcohol abuse and mental health involvement is relatively high consistently in the 25 percent range for the former and 11 percent to 19 percent range for the latter.

• Except for the alcohol abuse, the incidence of problems tended to diminish after ABLE involvement, either a simple reflection that the “worst was over” at their time of involvement or an increase in feelings of “belongingness” and “self-esteem” as a result of ABLE program participation.

The information presented so far in this chapter describes tangible facts about participants’ lives past and present. Before addressing participants’ attitudes toward life as expounded in the Informal Interviews and the QOLI, it seems best to restate significant measurable changes that occurred in participants’ lives between program enrollment and the time of the Informal Interviews. Chart 8 presents Key Changes over Time in the areas of public assistance, food stamps, jail, probation, mental health, bankruptcy and salaried employment.

Chart 8

Key Changes over Time