Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Sep 7, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 11, 2018 - Nov 6, 2018
Date Accepted: Feb 10, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
A pilot feasibility randomized controlled trial of a 12-week e-mentoring employment intervention for youth with physical disabilities
ABSTRACT
Background:
Youth with disabilities are at high risk of unemployment compared to youth without disabilities. They often encounter challenges in accessing vocational programs that meet their needs. One promising approach that could help to address barriers that youth encounter while also enhancing social support is through electronic mentoring (e-mentoring). Although there is an increase in e-mentoring for youth with disabilities, little is known about their impact for youth with physical disabilities.
Objective:
This study assessed the acceptability and initial impact of an online peer e-mentor employment intervention for youth with physical disabilities.
Methods:
The ‘Empowering youth towards employment’ intervention was evaluated using a pilot randomized controlled trial. Youth, aged 15-21 with physical disabilities were randomly assigned to an experimental (i.e., mentored) or control (i.e., non-mentored) group. Trained mentors (i.e., near peers) with a physical disability led the online discussion forums and provided peer support and resources for 12 modules (1 topic per week over 12 weeks). Primary outcomes focused on self-determination, career maturity and social support.
Results:
Thirteen youth (mean age 17.3 1.88 (SD), 54% female) completed in the RCT (intervention n= 9, control n=4). Participants reported satisfaction with the program and that it was feasible and acceptable. Participants mean engagement level with the program was 5.22/10 (SD 2.48) for the experimental group and 5.40 (SD 4.56) for controls. Participants in the intervention demonstrated significant improvements in self-determination, t 2.49 (p<0.04) compared to the control group. No adverse events were reported.
Conclusions:
The ‘Empowering youth towards employment’ is a promising intervention that enhances self-determination among youth with physical disabilities. Clinical Trial: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02522507; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02522507 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6uD58Pvjc)
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.