This article details the iterative development, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of an 8-week work-related social skills intervention, Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training, for young adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. In this mixed-methods study, pre- and post-intervention surveys, interviews, and functional measures were used to gather information on the program’s feasibility, user acceptability, practicality, and preliminary efficacy. Results indicate that Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training graduates showed significant improvements in work-related social skills knowledge, social functioning, and social/empathy self-efficacy. Participants and group facilitators also reported high satisfaction with program activities, training modalities, frequency, and duration of the intervention. Results support expanded use of group-based, work-related, social skills interventions for young adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, these findings, though preliminary, suggest that manualized, empirically based programs like Assistive Soft Skills and Employment Training promote improved social functioning, self-confidence, engagement, and adherence to training, as well as broader impacts, including improved sense of belonging and greater employability in this traditionally underserved population.

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Purpose: Hispanic-Americans are the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. The need to care for older Hispanics has become an important issue as they now enjoy longer life expectancies due to better access to healthcare and less labor participation in hazardous occupations. The present study examined whether the association between caregiver burden and gender-role expectations is mediated by acculturation and filial piety. Method: The sample consisted of 93 Mexican-American rehabilitation services students enrolled at a large public university in Texas. The four instruments used in the study were the Zarit Burden Interview, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican-Americans-Revised, and the Expectations of Filial Piety Scale. Participants visited an online survey site to respond to the questionnaire. Results: About half of the most common person to whom care was being provided was a parent 49.5% (n = 46) with 35.5% (n = 33) grandparents and 15.1% (n = 14) siblings. Acculturation scores were positively correlated with both gender-role expectations (r = .23, p = .027) and filial piety (r = .30, p = .003) scores. In addition, caregiver burden scores were negatively correlated with gender-role expectation scores (r = -.21, p = .046) and filial piety scores were positively correlated with gender-role expectation scores (r = .29, p = .005). The correlation between caregiver burden and filial piety was not statistically significant (r = -.10, P > .05 n.s.). Moreover, neither acculturation nor filial piety mediated the relationship between gender-role expectations and caregiver burden. Conclusion: Mexican-Americans view aging positively, have a sense of caring for elders, and have strong ties to their culture. As a result of strong Hispanic family values, the obligation to care for family members (i.e., familism) tends to occur with little hesitance. Future replication studies are needed to better understand the effects of acculturation and filial piety on caregiver burden among Mexican-Americans residing in other regions of the country, including outside the cities along the United States-Mexico border. The rationale for further research is that living in predominantly-White states such as Minnesota and Wyoming, where Mexican-Americans make up a small fraction of the population, might have effects on their acculturation.

The final section of the special issue presents a pair of articles which look at human services responders and professional pressures. In the first of these, our study focused on understanding rehabilitation counselors’ perceptions of the likelihood that their workplace can adapt to new challenges and make sustainable changes and how this perception is reflected in their level of emotional exhaustion, feelings of depersonalization, and the likelihood of achieving personal accomplishments. A total of 72 rehabilitation counselors completed a survey consisting of five measures, including a demographic questionnaire. The study’s results suggest that the more confident rehabilitation counselors are that their workplace can adapt to new challenges, the less burnout and stress they will experience, and the lower their job turnover intentions. Our study also examined whether rehabilitation counselors’ turnover intentions are related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings can help administrators provide appropriate training to improve teamwork, decrease counselors’ burnout and stress levels, and ultimately enhance quality service delivery.

This article presented a pedagogy of online experiential learning that meets CACREP’s (2016) required competency in a Master’s level group work course. It examined the student counselor’s group skills competency before and after the group work training. The classic and Bayesian paired t-test results demonstrated significant increases with large effect sizes for general and technology-related group skill competency. This pedagogy provided students with an experiential opportunity and allowed for the modeling and observation of leadership skills. Additionally, the authors discussed successes and challenges in the online peer-facilitated psychoeducation experiential group and provided the implications.