Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations.
The participants were able to identify adaptive behaviors during the intervention and improved and transferred their abilities to other daily contexts 1 month after the intervention. The results highlight the efficiency of a video-modeling-based intervention for adults with mild to moderate intellectual and developmental disabilities, for improving their social and work-related behaviors. This may reinforce the development and adaption of the intervention to their unique needs to support successful integration into the vocational world.
Primary Author and Speaker: Sharon Zlotnik
Additional Authors and Speakers: Yfat Ben Refael, Eynat Gal
Contributing Authors: Patrice Tamar Weiss
PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness of Video Modeling (VM) intervention for adults with Intellectual Developmental Disorders (IDD) to improve work-related social behaviors. People with IDD often have barriers restricting integration in the workplace (Watkins et al., 2016). Successful integration into the vocational world provides a sense of purpose and improves the quality of life for individuals with IDD (Gal, Selanikyo, Erez, & Katz, 2015). However, there is a paucity of vocational interventions adapted to their unique needs. VM entails the presentation of video clips of tasks to a client in order to improve social and functional skills. The client watches the videos then discuss possible responses and encouraged to learn adaptive behavior (Hochhauser, et al., 2015).
DESIGN: Pre-Post.
METHOD: PARTICIPANTS: 17 adults (9 men and 9 women) with mild to moderate IDD (age 36.1 ± 10.8 years) employed at a sheltered workplace. Tools: A. A computerized VM system, for presenting video clips of social dilemmas such as taking a break, responding to criticism from peers, appropriately expressing romantic interest in someone, and proper behavior in a dining room. B. Outcome measures: 1). Work Performance Questionnaire -WPQ (Gal, et al., 2017) to evaluate the skills and abilities of the individual in terms of appearance at work, punctuality and responsibility interaction with colleagues and superiors. 2. Social Work Skills Questionnaire- SWSQ to rate the extent to which the participant is able to cope with the social dilemmas similar to the presented clips. 3). Adaptive Response Questionnaire (ARQ) to document the participants' choices of solutions presented to them. C. Procedures: The WPQ and SWSQ were rated by counselors who were blind to the intervention procedure, at four time points: A1 – one month before the four-week intervention; A2 - immediately before the intervention, A3 - immediately after the intervention and A4 - one month after the intervention. The ARQ was rated by the participants once a week during the intervention. The video scenarios were created based on a focus group of experts in working with people with IDD who provided guidance concerning the content, format, and intellectual level (e.g., language comprehensibility). The usability of these scenarios was assessed prior to this intervention. They corresponded to the items presented in the SWSQ. The intervention was conducted by trained occupational therapists and included 4 weekly individual sessions of 45 minutes each, during which the participants watched short videos of work or socially related dilemmas and 3 related solutions graded from most to least adaptive responses. During each session the participants were asked: 1. to think about their own solution of the problem posed and present an example, 2. videotape themselves behaving in the proposed manner, and 3. watch themselves on video and express the amount of their satisfaction with this response.
RESULTS: The Wilcoxon test revealed significant differences in social behaviors measured by the SWSQ between point A1 and A2 (Z = -2.39, p < 0.01). In work performance as measured with the WPQ between A3 and A4 (Z = -3.35, p < 0.001). and in the participants' ability to identify an adaptive response χ2 (3, N = 16) (7.57, p < .05).
CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the participants improved their observed work-related social behaviors even after initial exposure to the videos. They were able to identify more adaptive behaviors and transfer their improvement to other daily contexts one month after the intervention. These findings reinforce the potential of a VM intervention for adults with mild to moderate IDD to improve work-related social behaviors and may support successful integration into the vocational world.
References
Hochhauser, M., Weiss, P. L., & Gal, E. (2015). Enhancing conflict negotiation strategies of adolescents with high functioning autism spectrum disorders through technology-supported collaboration. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 10, 7–14.
Gal, E., Selanikyo, E., Erez, A., & Katz, N. (2015). Integration in the Vocational World: How Does It Affect Quality of Life and Subjective Well-Being of Young Adults with ASD. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(9), 10820–10832. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120910820
Santilli, S., Nota, L., Ginevra, M. C., & Soresi, S. (2014). Career adaptability, hope and life satisfaction in workers with intellectual disability. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 85(1), 67–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2014.02.011
Watkins, L., Kuhn, M., O’Reilly, M. F., Lang, R., Sigafoos, J., & Lancioni, G. E. (2016). Social skills. In Singh, N. N. (Ed.) Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (pp. 493-510). Switzerland: Springer.
