An Online Evaluation of Work Chat

NCT ID: NCT05949086

Last Updated: 2025-12-08

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 234 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-07-07
• Study Completion Date: 2025-07-25

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.

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Work Chat Later

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

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Work Chat Now

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.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Work Chat

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

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.

Interventions

Work Chat

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.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

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

-

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

SIMmersion, LLC

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Michigan

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Matthew Smith

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Matthew J Smith, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Michigan

Locations

University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Countries

United States

Provided Documents

Document Type: Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

R44MH123359-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

HUM00228606

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id