Clinical trial NCT06255925: A Strength-Based Employment Maintenance Program for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum
Official title: A Strength-Based Employment Maintenance Program for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Autism
Keywords: Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD
Lead sponsor: Kessler Foundation
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-02-13
Enrollment: 30
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 14
Maximum age (years): 26
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Intervention model description: Kessler Foundation Strength Identification and Expression (KF-STRIDE® Into Work!)
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The investigators are looking to evaluate how effective a training program that focuses on character strengths may be in improving job maintenance skills in young adults. The investigators are examining the effects of this intervention in young adults who feel they would like to help in improving their satisfaction with work, and in keeping their jobs.

Detailed description: Individuals with autism possess employable and valuable strengths and abilities. Unfortunately, despite these strengths, individuals with autism experience challenges in obtaining and maintaining employment. Traditionally, the majority of interventions designed for autism (including those focused on employment) focus on remediating deficits, without harnessing the strengths of those with autism. This deficit-based approach (i.e. to fix what is deficient in a person with autism) has triggered increasing criticism and dissatisfaction from the autism community. A growing shift toward strength-based training tools represent a holistic approach to treatment of autistic individuals by acknowledging and using their strengths to improve outcomes. To date, no strength-based employment programs have been examined in individuals with autism. Thus, in the current project, the investigators aim to develop and test a strength-based employment program. At Kessler Foundation, the investigators have developed a strength-based training tool: Kessler Foundation Strength Identification and Expression (KF-STRIDE®) which targets job interview skills by teaching individuals with autism to identify and express their personal strengths to a future employer. In the current proposal, the investigators aim to adapt this program to specifically target job maintenance skills.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Lives in the United States of America
* Between the ages of 14-26
* Speaks English well and at a 4th grade reading level

Exclusion Criteria:

* Had a stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury, or neurological injury or disease in the past(like brain tumor or epilepsy)
* Has a history of significant psychiatric illness(like schizophrenia or psychosis)
* Has uncontrolled seizures or other unstable medical complications

Primary outcomes:
measure: Parent Report Employment Questionnaire
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Work Self-Efficacy Scale
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Strengths Self-Efficacy Scale
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Strengths Knowledge and Strengths Use Scale(SKUS)
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Flourishing(FS)
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Patients Global Impression of Change
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Intervention Effectiveness From Participant Point
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Minnesota Work Satisfaction
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Job search
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Search for Work Self-Efficacy Scale
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Connor- Davidson Resilience Scale(CD-RISC)
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Voicemail Elicitation Task(VET)/ Email Elicitation Task(EET)
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Work Chat Assessment
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale(RSES)
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
measure: Twenty Statements Task
timeFrame: Baseline, Immediate Post-test between weeks 7 and 8
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: East Hanover
country: United States
facility: Kessler Foundation
state: New Jersey
Study officials:
affiliation: Kessler Foundation
name: Helen Genova, Ph. D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: