Theses and Dissertations Collection

Despite recent advancements in the field of Autism, young adults with a diagnosis of ASD continue to struggle working and living independently (Thompson, 2013). Competitive employment is a quality of life indicator (García‐Villamisar & Hughes, 2007; García-Villamisar, Wehman, & Navarro, 2002; Hendricks, 2010; Hurlbutt & Chalmers, 2010; Morgan, Leatzow, Clark, & Siller, 2014; Roux et al., 2013). Strong interview skills including impression management behaviors, increase the likelihood of obtaining competitive employment (Bell & Weinstein, 2011; Smith et al., 2014; Smith et al., 2015; Strickland, Coles, & Southern, 2013). High self-efficacy and impression management behaviors influence successful interviewee performance (Huffcutt, Van Iddekinge, & Roth, 2011). This study explored the use of a Virtual Reality–Live Interview Coaching (VR-LIC) intervention package to increase gaze and conversational reciprocity across interviewers and settings with young adults diagnosed with ASD. The participants demonstrated improvement in impression management behavior with the introduction of VR intervention. The incorporation of live coaching with multiple interviewers and office settings enhanced performance and increased transfer of skills to future real-world interviews as concluded by high and consistence maintenance probe data. Statements of limitations for VR-LIC intervention package effectiveness include generalization of study results to a larger population, inability to control for practice effect, and general limitation of theoretical perspective and instructional strategies. The results of this study support the use of virtual reality and live-interview coaching to development and strengthen interview skills for young adults with a diagnosis of ASD. These promising results supports the need for more research exploring VR and interview skill interventions topics and limitations.