NCT03514134

Modifying (Phase I) and Evaluating (Phase II) Virtual Reality Job Interview Training for Youth in Transition

Completed NA Results posted Last updated 22 June 2023

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Virtual Reality Job Interview Training in Autism Spectrum Disorder in 71 participants. Completed in 1 August 2020.

Timeline

1 October 2018

Primary endpoint
1 August 2020

1 August 2020

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Michigan
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	71
Start date	1 October 2018
Primary completion	1 August 2020
Estimated completion	1 August 2020
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Virtual Reality Job Interview Training
• Services as Usual

Conditions studied

• Autism Spectrum Disorder — all drugs for Autism Spectrum Disorder →

Sponsor

University of Michigan

Who can join

Adults 16 to 21, any sex, with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

Change in Job Interview Skills Primary · Collected at Pre-Test and Post-Test visits (within approximately 1 month of active treatment)

Interviewing skills will be measured using a role-play measure in which subjects act out one job interview scenario with trained actors. Interviews will be video recorded and scored. There is one mock interview and pre-test and one mock interview at post-test. The method of assessment is the job interview skills rating scale as measured by the Mock Interview Rating Scale, which has 14 items with each item ranging from 1 (Unlikely) to 7 (Very Likely). Possible scores range from 14 to 98, with higher scores indicating better interview skills.

Pre-test

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	45.9	± 1.9
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	46.8	± 1.3

Post-test

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	43.6	± 1.9
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	49.6	± 1.3

Job Interview Self-Efficacy Secondary · Collected at Pre-Test and Post-Test visits (within approximately 1 month of active treatment)

9 item self-report consisting of 11 items on a 5-point Likert-type scale, with 1 indicating "Not at all" and 5 indicating "Very True". The range of scores is from 11 to 55, with higher scores indicating more self-efficacy/motivation to complete job interviews, which is a better outcome.

Pre-test

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	45.9	± 3.4
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	47.2	± 2.6

Post-test

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	44.3	± 3.1
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	43.5	± 2.4

Change in Job Interview Anxiety Secondary · Collected at Pre-Test and Post-Test visits (within approximately 1 month of active treatment)

15 item self-report using a modified version of the brief Personal Report of Public Speaking Apprehension (PRSPA; McCroskey, 1970). After reviewing the brief PRSPA, we selected and reframed 10 items using a three point Likert-type scale (0 = "not at all," 1 = "sometimes," and 2 = "often"). Higher scores indicated higher anxiety, and scores could range from 0 to 26.

Pre-test

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	5.0	± 4.7
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	7.0	± 4.1

Post-test

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	4.4	± 4.4
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	5.7	± 3.8

Competitive Employment Secondary · Collected at pre-test and at 6 months after completing Post-Test Visit

Obtained a part-time or full-time community-based job as completed via a self-report measure yes/no question. This survey could have been completed by either participants themselves, parents, or teachers.

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	0
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	12

Change in Depressive Symptoms Secondary · Collected at Pre-Test and Post-Test visits (within approximately 1 month of active treatment).

Participants self-reported level of depressive symptoms at pre-test and post-test using the brief version of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (b-MFQ; Angold et al., 1995). The measure include 13 items on a scale of 0 to 2, with a total range of 0 to 26. Scores of 12 or greater suggest clinical depression, so higher scores indicate higher depressive symptoms, which is a negative outcome.

Pre-test

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	4.7	± 4.1
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	5.7	± 4.1

Post-test

Group	Value	95% CI
Services as Usual	4.0	± 3.0
Services as Usual + Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	5.3	± 4.0

Sponsor's own description

The unemployment rate is quite high among adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Inadequate transition planning during high school and gaps between vocational needs and availability of evidence-based services help explain the struggles of transition-age youth at obtaining employment. There is a paucity of research on developing and evaluating services to support the transition to the work force after graduating from high school. The lack of available resources to support transition-age youth with an ASD speaks to the need to develop interventions that ameliorate obstacles to employment and help support the transition to the work force. Due to the social deficits characterizing ASD innovative interventions could target preparing job interview skills for students facing the transition to employment as the job interview is a critical gateway to securing a job offer. Thus, the overarching goal of this study is to modify an existing virtual reality job interview skills training program for use in high school students with ASD and to test the feasibility and effectiveness of conducting this intervention in a high school setting via a small controlled trial. Thus, study's first aim is to modify the existing 'Virtual Reality Job Interview Training' program to meet the specific needs of high school seniors with ASD. This will accomplish this by conducting in depth interviews with high school students with ASD and their vocational counselors to solicit feedback to modify the current training's learning goals, content, usability, and simulated interview scripts to meet the specific needs of transition age youth. An expert panel will determine the final modifications to the training program based on the results of the qualitative data analysis and their own views of the program. Second aim of the study is to conduct a pilot trial to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, portability, fidelity and preliminary effectiveness of the modified intervention in a randomized controlled trial. This study will also explore potential mechanisms for effectiveness and collect pilot implementation data.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.