Invitation to participate in PEERS® research study
Dr. Sarah Howorth, Assistant Professor at UMaine and Dr. Libby Stone-Sterling, Director Maine Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, are currently recruiting teens and young adults for participation in a research study to investigate the delivery of the PEERS® interpersonal skills curriculum via Zoom.
Eligible participants will be Vocational Rehab clients who are
- Between the ages of 14- 24 years,
- Have an ASD diagnosis as part of their educational record
- Are interested in improving their interpersonal skills.
- Adult participants will have the consent of a guardian or caregiver to participate in the study. This is because research indicates only 17% of young adults with Autism live independently (Anderson et al., 2014).
Additional inclusion criteria include:
(a) fluent in English, (b) willing to have a parent complete the SRS-2 measure, (c) willing to participate in at least 13 of the 16 sessions, (d) willing to have their web-conference session video recorded and shared with other participants for video-modeling review and used for training purposes, (e) have reliable internet and access to a device with built-in audio and video camera with which to participate in the web-conferencing sessions. (Video-modeling for participants will involve the recording of the didactic instruction of social skills during each session to be viewed by participants at a later time.)
Phone screening.
VR clients who fit the above criteria will be invited to participate in a phone screening phone call with Dr. Stone-Sterling. During this phone screening, she will have a conversation with the participant and their parent to review inclusion criteria and determine the teen’s/ adult’s willingness to participate in the study. Also, during this conversation, PI will ask about potential participants’ history of conversational skills, behavioral problems, and social problems.
Pretest. If inclusion criteria are met, she will send them the Consent forms and pretests (Appendices A through C) as PDF documents via email to be completed and returned to her. If participants are unable to complete the forms via email, the forms will be mailed to them with a pre-addressed, postage-paid envelope for them to complete by hand, and return to her via mail.
If you would like to participate and/or have questions about this study, please contact: libby.stone-sterling@maine.gov
Learn more about the PEERS® Lab at UMaine