Group-Based Online Job Interview Training Program Using Virtual Robot for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

The rapid expansion of online job interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue after the pandemic has subsided. These interviews are a significant barrier for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). There is little evidence-based training for online job interviews for individuals with ASD, and the development of new trainings is expected. In an effort to facilitate online job interview skill acquisition for individuals with ASD, we developed a group-based online job interview training program using a virtual robot (GOT). In GOT, the interviewer and interviewee are projected as virtual robots on the screen. Five participants were grouped and performed the role of interviewee, interviewer, and evaluator. The participants performed all roles in a random order. Each session consisted of a first job interview session, feedback session, and second job interview session. The participants experienced 25 sessions. Before and after GOT, the participants underwent a mock online job interview with a human professional interviewer (MOH) to evaluate the effect of GOT. In total, 15 individuals with ASD took part in the study. The GOT improved self-confidence, motivation, the understanding of others' perspectives, verbal competence, non-verbal competence, and interview performance scores. There was also a significant increase in the recognition of the importance of the point of view of interviewers and evaluators after the second MOH compared to after the first MOH. Using a VR robot and learning the importance of interview skills by experiencing other perspectives (i.e., viewpoint of interviewer and evaluator) may have sustained their motivation and enabled greater self-confidence. Given the promising results of this study and to draw definitive conclusions regarding the efficacy of virtual reality (VR) robots for mock online job interview training, further studies with larger, more diverse samples of individuals with ASD using a longitudinal design are warranted.

Differences in the Optimal Motion of Android Robots for the Ease of Communications Among Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…The scripts of the mock interviews varied slightly across sessions to promote engagement but followed the same basic structure. (Examples of scripts are provided in Supplementary Material 2) The questions asked in the interview for the participants were the same as those used in previous studies (9,11,32) targeting individuals with ASD. Through these experiences, we realized these questions are relevant.…”

A new group-based online job interview training program using computer graphics robots for individuals with autism spectrum disorders

“…However, many hurdles prevent individuals with ASD from concentrating on online job interview training. In our previous study, we found that individuals with ASD had higher interpersonal tension during online interview training and lower motivation in an online job interview setting ( 11 ).…”

“…Unlike humans, virtual humanoid robots operate in predictable and lawful systems and, thus, can provide a highly structured learning environment that allows individuals with ASD to focus on relevant stimuli. Individuals with ASD may be highly motivated to communicate with virtual humanoid robots and exhibit social behaviors toward them ( 11 ).…”

“…Based on these considerations, the use of a simple virtual agent for training individuals with ASD can be inferred to be appropriate. Studies on virtual exposure using clinical samples have shown that even simple virtual agents can significantly increase anxiety and are more effective for phobics than speaking in front of an empty virtual seminar room ( 11 , 20 ). In designing a virtual human-robot mock online job interview training for individuals with ASD, it is important to consider how to design the agent’s eyes, because individuals with ASD pay less attention to their eyes than individuals with typical development ( 21 ).…”

“…The GIT-VICS Program differs from the method used previously ( 11 ) in that (1) the meta-evaluator evaluated the performance of both the interviewee and the interviewers, (2) the virtual interview sessions included two interviewers (compared to only one interviewer in the previous study), and (3) the interviewee was given an additional way to control the gaze of the computer graphics (CG) robot as well as a task to properly present attention to both interviewers. Above all, in this study, to investigate the effectiveness of the GIT-VICS Program, we prepared a face-to-face mock job interview setting (in a previous study, we prepared a mock online job interview setting).…”