Using community-engaged methods to adapt virtual reality job-interview training for transition-age youth on the autism spectrum

Smith, Matthew J.; Pinto, Rogério M.; DaWalt, Leann Smith; Smith, Justin D.; Sherwood, Kari; Miles, Rashun; Taylor, Julie Lounds; Hume, Kara; Dawkins, Tamara; Baker-Ericzén, Mary J.; Frazier, Thomas; Humm, Laura Boteler; Steacy, Chris

doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2019.101498

Cited by 38 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The new skills at hard answer the question "Will you do a good job?" The 10 targeted job interview skills were identified based on the job interview literature (Huffcutt, 2011), and the scaffolding decisions were determined by a community-engaged intervention development framework with autism stakeholders (Smith et al, 2020). The examples of interview questions, successful responses, and feedback are presented in the Supplemental Methods.…”

Section: Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fourth level is a performance assessment via video and text that qualitatively reviews each of the 10 job interview skills and the three questions reflecting easy, medium, and hard interviews. VIT-TAY also includes supplemental training materials to support the practice experience: (1) Kendra, a virtual job coach (Figure 3), is the center of a social story framework to guide the experience and provide optional voice-overs for all written contents and (2) a token reward system to boost the social storytelling framework (Smith et al, 2020). Additional details describing supplemental training materials are presented in the Supplemental Methods.…”

Section: Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Smith et al, 2016;Smith, Fleming, Wright, Jordan, et al, 2015;Smith, Fleming, Wright, Roberts, et al, 2015) and was found to help autistic young adults improve their job interview skills and job interview self-efficacy in a laboratory setting (Smith, Ginger Wright, Wright, Taylor et al, 2014), which was replicated in school settings (Arter et al, 2018;Ward & Esposito, 2019). Given that VR-JIT was designed to meet the needs of adults with serious mental illness (Smith et al, 2014) and had marginal translation to competitive employment among autistic young adults (Smith, Fleming, Wright, Losh, et al, 2015), we used community-engaged methods to adapt VR-JIT to meet the needs of autistic TAY, which resulted in a new tool: Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth (VIT-TAY) (Smith et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Virtual interview training for autistic transition age youth: A randomized controlled feasibility and effectiveness trial

Smith

Sherwood

Ross

et al. 2021

Autism

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Autistic transition age youth struggle with obtaining employment, and interviewing is a critical barrier to getting a job. We adapted an efficacious virtual reality job interview intervention to meet the needs of autistic transition age youth, called the Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth. This study evaluated whether Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth can be feasibly delivered in high school special education settings and whether Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth improves job interview skills, job interview self-efficacy, job interview anxiety, and access to employment. Forty-eight autistic transition age youth received school-based pre-employment services as usual with Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth, while 23 autistic transition age youth received services as usual only. Local teachers trained and supervised autistic transition age youth using Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth. Participants reported Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth was highly acceptable. Participants receiving services as usual and Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth, compared to participants receiving services as usual only, had better job interview skills and lower job interview anxiety as well as greater access to jobs. Overall, Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth appears to be effective at teaching job interview skills that are associated with accessing competitive jobs. Moreover, youth enjoyed Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth and teachers feasibly implemented the tool within special education pre-employment transition services. Future research needs to better understand how autistic transition age youth from culturally diverse backgrounds and different social, behavioral, or mental health challenges may respond to Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth. Lay abstract Autistic transition age youth struggle with obtaining employment, and interviewing is a critical barrier to getting a job. We adapted an efficacious virtual reality job interview intervention to meet the needs of autistic transition age youth, called the Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth. This study evaluated whether Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth can be feasibly delivered in high school special education settings and whether Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth improves job interview skills, job interview self-efficacy, job interview anxiety, and access to employment. Forty-eight autistic transition age youth received school-based pre-employment services as usual with Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth, while 23 autistic transition age youth received services as usual only. Local teachers trained and supervised autistic transition age youth using Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth. Participants reported Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth was highly acceptable. Participants receiving services as usual and Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth, compared to participants receiving services as usual only, had better job interview skills and lower job interview anxiety as well as greater access to jobs. Overall, Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth appears to be effective at teaching job interview skills that are associated with accessing competitive jobs. Moreover, youth enjoyed Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth and teachers feasibly implemented the tool within special education pre-employment transition services. Future research needs to better understand how autistic transition age youth from culturally diverse backgrounds and different social, behavioral, or mental health challenges may respond to Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth.

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Section: Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Virtual interview training for autistic transition age youth: A randomized controlled feasibility and effectiveness trial

Smith

Sherwood

Ross

et al. 2021

Autism

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Desktop-based VR interventions for individuals with ASD have been designed around a variety of social and adaptive skills including riding a bus and engaging within a cafe (Mitchell et al , 2007; Parsons et al , 2004), safety skills (Self et al , 2007), street-crossing (Josman et al , 2011), emotion recognition (Moore et al , 2005), engaging in conversation at social gatherings (Ke and Im, 2013), practicing public speaking (Jarrold et al , 2013; Smith et al , 2020), interviewing for a job (Kandalaft et al , 2013), learning to think imaginatively (Herrera et al , 2008), preparing for a court appearance (Standen and Brown, 2005) and more (Wang and Anagnostou, 2014).…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Piloting an adaptive skills virtual reality intervention for adults with autism: findings from user-centered formative design and evaluation

Schmidt

Glaser

2021

JET

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present evaluation findings from a proof-of-concept virtual reality adaptive skills intervention called Virtuoso, designed for adults with autism spectrum disorders. Design/methodology/approach A user-centric usage test was conducted to investigate the acceptability, feasibility, ease-of-use and relevance of Virtuoso to the unique needs of participants, as well as the nature of participants’ user experiences. Findings are presented from the perspectives of expert testers and participant testers with autism. Findings This paper offers findings that suggest Virtuoso is feasible and relevant to the unique needs of the target population, and that user experience was largely positive. Anecdotal evidence of skills transfer is also discussed. Research limitations/implications The research was conducted in limited settings and with a small number of participants. Multiple VR hardware systems were used, and some experienced instability. This could be accounted for in future research by deploying across multiple settings and with a larger number of participants. Some evidence of cybersickness was observed. Future research must carefully consider the trade-offs between VR-based training and cybersickness for this vulnerable population. Originality/value This paper reports on cutting-edge design and development in areas that are under-represented and poorly understood in the literature on virtual reality for individuals with autism.

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“…M. Smith et al developed virtual reality training exercises «Virtual Reality Job-Interview Training» (VR-JIT), aimed at preparing persons with disabilities to take part in professional activities [30]. In 2020, the authors adapted a training program for people with ASD, mainly of young age (18-22 years old), aimed to help them at the time of transition from high school to college or university [29].…”

Section: Using Vr In the Diagnosis And Teaching Of Schoolchildren Witmentioning

confidence: 99%

The project of professional career orientation complex for ASD pupils based on virtual reality technologies

2021

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The paper analyses the application of virtual reality technologies to career guidance of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). An overview of studies using virtual reality technologies conducted with children and adolescents with ASD, including diagnosis and teaching of schoolchildren with autism spectrum disorders, is made. The authors follow “The Theory of Central Coherence” by U. Frith, realizing symptoms of autism spectrum disorders not as disorders but as peculiar features and a special cognitive style. The study describes the features of vocational guidance of ASD individuals on the basis of the sources about the difficulties of people with ASD in the transition from school to secondary and higher education. The authors’ project of a complex vocational guidance using virtual reality technology for students with ASD introducing “a city-farmer” profession is represented. The tripartite structure of the vocational guidance complex is showed, the need for interaction of specialists with the parents of a child with ASD, as well as identification of “savant skills” at the first stage of career guidance work was emphasized. Examples of virtual spaces developed by one of the authors are given, with which people with ASD interact by the determination their possible professional trajectory. The tasks and responses of users in the vocational guidance complex for schoolchildren are described. A conclusion about the possibility of expanding the list of professions in the vocational guidance simulator for children with ASD is made.

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Using community-engaged methods to adapt virtual reality job-interview training for transition-age youth on the autism spectrum

Cited by 38 publications

References 47 publications

Virtual interview training for autistic transition age youth: A randomized controlled feasibility and effectiveness trial

Virtual interview training for autistic transition age youth: A randomized controlled feasibility and effectiveness trial

Piloting an adaptive skills virtual reality intervention for adults with autism: findings from user-centered formative design and evaluation

The project of professional career orientation complex for ASD pupils based on virtual reality technologies

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