Clinical trial NCT05949086: An Online Evaluation of Work Chat
Official title: An Online Evaluation of Work Chat: A Virtual Workday Among Employed Autistic Adults
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Lead sponsor: University of Michigan
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
name: SIMmersion, LLC
First posted: 2023-07-17
Enrollment: 90
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: 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.

Detailed 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.

Eligibility criteria: 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:

-

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Theory of Mind - Hinting Task
timeFrame: Baseline and posttest (approximately 6 weeks after baseline)
measure: Change in Emotion Recognition Ability - MiniPONs
timeFrame: Baseline and posttest (approximately 6 weeks after baseline)
measure: Greater sustained employment by 9 Months
timeFrame: 9 Month Follow Up (approximately 9 Months after randomization)
measure: Change in Managing Emotions
timeFrame: Baseline and posttest (approximately 6 weeks after baseline)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in Anxiety
timeFrame: Baseline and posttest (approximately 6 weeks after baseline)
Other outcomes:
measure: Change in Social Competence/Applied Social Ability
timeFrame: Baseline and posttest (approximately 6 weeks after baseline)
measure: Change in Interpersonal Communication at Work
timeFrame: Baseline and posttest (approximately 6 weeks after baseline) and 3-month, 6-month, 9-month follow up after randomization.
measure: Change in Job Satisfaction
timeFrame: Baseline and posttest (approximately 6 weeks after baseline) and 3-month, 6-month, 9-month follow up after randomization.
Locations:
city: Ann Arbor
country: United States
facility: University of Michigan
state: Michigan
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Michigan
name: Matthew J Smith, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: