An Online Evaluation of Work Chat

University of Michigan

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Work Chat

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05949086

HUM00228606

R44MH123359-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study is aiming to see if it is feasible for the intervention Work Chat to be delivered in a completely online setting to adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Full description

Nearly 50,000 youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) transition from high school to adult life each year, with only 25% of these transition-age youth with ASD (TAY-ASD) getting jobs within 2 years of graduation. TAY-ASD's ability to sustain employment is even more challenging due in part to their social cognitive deficits (e.g., poorly reading social cues) that disrupt communicating with customers, coworkers, and supervisors. Research shows nearly 90% of job dismissals among TAY-ASD are attributed to poor work-based social functioning (e.g., poorly communicating with upset customers). The subsequent unemployment has damaging effects on their mental, physical, and economic health. A critical gap in federally-mandated services to support youth with ASD as they transition from school-to-adult life is the lack of evidence-based practice to enhance their work-based social functioning. Given that TAY-ASD report computerized training tools are highly acceptable and improve their real-world outcomes, the investigators propose to address this critical barrier to sustained employment by developing and evaluating a novel and scalable computerized training tool to enhance their conversations with customers, coworkers and supervisors at work.

The investigators are aiming to see if it is feasible for Work Chat to be delivered in a completely online setting and not within schools or other sites. The investigators are also evaluating the tool specifically with employed adults who have autism spectrum disorder.

Enrollment: 234 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• 18 years or older
• Has 4th grade or higher reading level
• Employed or Unemployed and searching for employment within the next 3 months
• Has access to a computer, laptop, or tablet that has connection to the internet and a camera (not including smartphone)

Exclusion criteria

-

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

234 participants in 2 patient groups

Work Chat Later

No Intervention group

Description:

This group will not receive Work Chat during the study, but will receive Work Chat access after data collection is complete.

Work Chat Now

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioral: Work Chat: An Interactive Virtual Workday Work Chat will be a simulation training using virtual characters to role-play conversations. It will contain conversations with a coworker, a customer, and a supervisor within a workplace setting.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Work Chat