TY - JOUR
T1 - Group-Based Online Job Interview Training Program Using Virtual Robot for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders
AU - Kumazaki, Hirokazu
AU - Yoshikawa, Yuichiro
AU - Muramatsu, Taro
AU - Haraguchi, Hideyuki
AU - Fujisato, Hiroko
AU - Sakai, Kazuki
AU - Matsumoto, Yoshio
AU - Ishiguro, Hiroshi
AU - Sumiyoshi, Tomiki
AU - Mimura, Masaru
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (20K20857, 20H00101) and JST, Moonshot R&D Grant Number JPMJMS2011.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Kumazaki, Yoshikawa, Muramatsu, Haraguchi, Fujisato, Sakai, Matsumoto, Ishiguro, Sumiyoshi and Mimura.
PY - 2022/1/24
Y1 - 2022/1/24
N2 - The rapid expansion of online job interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue after the pandemic has subsided. These interviews are a significant barrier for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). There is little evidence-based training for online job interviews for individuals with ASD, and the development of new trainings is expected. In an effort to facilitate online job interview skill acquisition for individuals with ASD, we developed a group-based online job interview training program using a virtual robot (GOT). In GOT, the interviewer and interviewee are projected as virtual robots on the screen. Five participants were grouped and performed the role of interviewee, interviewer, and evaluator. The participants performed all roles in a random order. Each session consisted of a first job interview session, feedback session, and second job interview session. The participants experienced 25 sessions. Before and after GOT, the participants underwent a mock online job interview with a human professional interviewer (MOH) to evaluate the effect of GOT. In total, 15 individuals with ASD took part in the study. The GOT improved self-confidence, motivation, the understanding of others' perspectives, verbal competence, non-verbal competence, and interview performance scores. There was also a significant increase in the recognition of the importance of the point of view of interviewers and evaluators after the second MOH compared to after the first MOH. Using a VR robot and learning the importance of interview skills by experiencing other perspectives (i.e., viewpoint of interviewer and evaluator) may have sustained their motivation and enabled greater self-confidence. Given the promising results of this study and to draw definitive conclusions regarding the efficacy of virtual reality (VR) robots for mock online job interview training, further studies with larger, more diverse samples of individuals with ASD using a longitudinal design are warranted.
AB - The rapid expansion of online job interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue after the pandemic has subsided. These interviews are a significant barrier for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). There is little evidence-based training for online job interviews for individuals with ASD, and the development of new trainings is expected. In an effort to facilitate online job interview skill acquisition for individuals with ASD, we developed a group-based online job interview training program using a virtual robot (GOT). In GOT, the interviewer and interviewee are projected as virtual robots on the screen. Five participants were grouped and performed the role of interviewee, interviewer, and evaluator. The participants performed all roles in a random order. Each session consisted of a first job interview session, feedback session, and second job interview session. The participants experienced 25 sessions. Before and after GOT, the participants underwent a mock online job interview with a human professional interviewer (MOH) to evaluate the effect of GOT. In total, 15 individuals with ASD took part in the study. The GOT improved self-confidence, motivation, the understanding of others' perspectives, verbal competence, non-verbal competence, and interview performance scores. There was also a significant increase in the recognition of the importance of the point of view of interviewers and evaluators after the second MOH compared to after the first MOH. Using a VR robot and learning the importance of interview skills by experiencing other perspectives (i.e., viewpoint of interviewer and evaluator) may have sustained their motivation and enabled greater self-confidence. Given the promising results of this study and to draw definitive conclusions regarding the efficacy of virtual reality (VR) robots for mock online job interview training, further studies with larger, more diverse samples of individuals with ASD using a longitudinal design are warranted.
KW - COVID-19
KW - autism spectrum disorders
KW - online job interview
KW - other's perspective
KW - virtual robot
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85124220796&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.704564
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.704564
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85124220796
SN - 1664-0640
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Psychiatry
JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry
M1 - 704564
ER -
