Autistic individuals have numerous strengths that are valuable in work settings (e.g., attention to detail, punctuality, low absenteeism, high work quality, strong work ethic, trustworthiness, loyalty). Yet, when compared to neurotypical peers, many autistic individuals continue to have difficulty securing, maintaining, and advancing in employment; this is especially salient for individuals transitioning from adolescence into adulthood (ages 14-30). In response to these challenges, evidence-based transition programming and employment-readiness interventions have progressively increased and have specifically focused on employment preparation and retention skills, occupation-specific skills, and soft skills (e.g., social-communication skills, responsibility, flexibility, teamwork, etc.); together, these skills are called employability skills. A key element to employment-focused evidence-based practices is socially and psychometrically validated employability instruments. Such tools can help transition-age individuals with autism (TAI-ASD) identify their employment skill strengths and skills that are in-development; these measurement tools can also be used to determine the efficacy and effectiveness of transition programming and employment-readiness interventions. However, there is a paucity of employability skills instruments that are theory-aligned, psychometrically sound, socially acceptable, and clinically applicable for autism communities. To help fill this research-practice gap, three instruments have been developed that measure soft skills, employment preparation skills, and employment retention skills. This dissertation specifically focuses on evaluating the social validity, feasibility, preliminary factor structure, and preliminary reliability of the soft skills assessment, titled Employment Success: Soft Skills (ESSS).Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, key stakeholders (20 TAI-ASD, 16 parent/caregivers, and 44 educators and service providers) living throughout the U.S. offered quantitative and qualitative feedback about the social validity and feasibility of the ESSS for individual, academic, and clinical purposes. Stakeholders first completed either the self-report or the informant-report of the ESSS; they then evaluated several domains of social validity (understandability, clarity, relevance, ease of use, utility) and feasibility (desirability, applicability, collaboration, understanding, system climate, system support). Descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis were used to determine the overall social validity and feasibility of the ESSS and to understand similarities and differences in stakeholder perspectives. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine the degree of differences across stakeholder perspectives. Merging the quantitative and qualitative responses identified which aspects of the ESSS may need improvement based on stakeholder perspectives. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the preliminary latent structure of the ESSS, and Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the preliminary internal consistency (reliability).In general, stakeholders endorsed the social validity and the feasibility of the ESSS, suggesting they perceived it to be a useful instrument for measuring perceived soft skill strengths and skills that are continuing to develop. Educators and service providers further endorsed the relevancy, practicality, and utility of the ESSS for academic and clinical settings that serve TAI-ASD. However, results suggested that additional clarity in the introduction section, automating the scoring section, and expanding select items for more contextual clarity are needed prior to proceeding with more robust psychometric evaluations of the ESSS in the future. Preliminary results of the exploratory factor analysis suggest the ESSS may be a single-factor instrument measuring a global soft skills domain. Preliminary reliability suggests the ESSS has good internal consistency on the self-report (.88-.91) and the informant-report (.83-.92). Implications for research and practice are discussed along with suggestions for future research.
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