Development and Reliability of the Autism Work Skills Questionnaire (AWSQ) for People with HFASD

Background: Individuals with ASD and especially those with high functioning Autism (HFASD) can work successfully in community businesses, as evidence suggests. However, many persons with HFASD report substantial difficulties in finding and maintaining employment. In order to achieve successful match between a person and a job for this population, there is a need to construct a valid and reliable assessment tool that can be instrumental in guiding clinicians’ decisions as to what kind of job placement could match the needs of the individual with ASD. In this study a comprehensive assessment for employment of people with Autism, Autism Work Skills Questionnaire (AWSQ) was developed, and its content validity and reliability were established.

Objectives:

 (1) To Construct a questionnaire that will assess the work related strengths and barriers for people with HFASD, and determine its content validity.

(2) To determine the questionnaire's reliability in two ways:  a. examination of the internal consistency of the questionnaire’s domains; and b. examination of inter respondents' reliability of the questionnaire domains. 

 Methods:

Participants included 60 Individuals in the ages of 18-40 years, who are diagnosed as HFASD with at least 10-12 years of education, in transition from an educational setting to employment or are or were employed already, and their parents.

Instruments  The Autism Work Skills Questionnaire (AWSQ) is a structured interview which addresses personal and educational data, employment history, habits, styles and independent work, work related strengths and weaknesses, past work barriers, preferred physical and social environment, routine daily activities, interpersonal skills and future aims.

Data analysis 1. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to examine the domain scale’s internal consistency. 2. In order to test the cross informant agreement (inter respondent reliability)  paired sample t-tests were performed between participants and their family member.

Results: AWSQ was originally developed in Hebrew and has later undergone a standardized translation process into English. Content validity was established by expert qualitative evaluation in both languages, and was proven to be high. Internal consistency reliability of the 6 subscales of the questionnaire range from moderate to high Cronbach alpha of r=.645 to .900. Paired sample t-tests were performed between participants and their family member. Results from the AWSQ of individuals with HFASD were not significantly different from their family members except for one area “sensory work environment”(t=2.18, p<.036) were participants rated themselves higher  (more sensitive and in need of adjustments) than family members.

 Conclusions:  This study provides a comprehensive assessment of vocational related strengths and drawbacks of people with HFASD. Reliability of the tool was established. The AWSQ may serve as the first step toward establishing a good job placement for those with HFASD, as well as an appropriate intervention plan and treatment objectives that aims at maintaining the job.