Breakthrough interview extended reality training towards reducing the autism employment gap (BRIDGING)
Project team
Funder
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research for Social Care (RfSC) Ref. NIHR204260.
Value
£339,149.00
Collaborators
- List of partners: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/centre-for-health-technology/bridging-project
- Led by Dr. Michael Loizou, University of Plymouth
Duration
1/06/23 → 31/05/26
Project overview
The BRIDGING project is a three-year project using extended reality training with autistic employees and employers to support entry and retainment within the workplace and reduce the autism employment gap. The project is aligned with the National Autism Strategy 2021-2026 and increasing research emphasis into accessible employment as recommended by The Buckland Review of Autism Employment published 28 February 2024.
Project objectives
The project will create virtual reality (VR) environments so that autistic people can practise job interviews and being at work, building confidence and finding strategies that work for them.
- Review research studies and other work involving autistic people, to understand the main causes of anxiety and stress during interviews and early employment.
- Work with autistic people and a VR company to create virtual environments of situations occurring during job interviews and the first few days of work, along with a training package for those helping autistic people into work.
- Obtain feedback on these from a new group of people, whilst working out what we need for a bigger study to see if the VR environments improve employment in autistic people. We will then finalise the VR environments and training materials, ready for the bigger study.
Impact statement
The project aims, in the long term, to increase employment among autistic people in the UK. A set of ‘virtual reality scenes’ will be developed to help autistic people know what it is like to have job interviews and experience the first few days of work. This will help them to know what to expect, be less anxious and increase their chances of getting and keeping jobs.
Outputs
Mentioned on article: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/08/research-autism-evolving-transforming-lives-social-communication-therapy-drugs-trials
