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. 2025 Mar;35(1):54-65.
doi: 10.1007/s10926-024-10181-3. Epub 2024 Apr 3.

Barriers to and Facilitators for Finding and Keeping Competitive Employment: A Focus Group Study on Autistic Adults With and Without Paid Employment

Evelien P M Brouwers  1 , Michel Bergijk  2 , Jaap van Weeghel  2 , Sarah Detaille  3 , Hanneke Kerkhof  4 , Jeroen Dewinter  2   5
Affiliations

Barriers to and Facilitators for Finding and Keeping Competitive Employment: A Focus Group Study on Autistic Adults With and Without Paid Employment

Evelien P M Brouwers et al. J Occup Rehabil. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study was to gain more insight into barriers to and facilitators for finding and keeping competitive employment for autistic adults. Research questions were: (1) What barriers and facilitators do autistic adults report in finding and keeping competitive employment?; and (2) What are differences and similarities between autistic adults with and without paid employment regarding barriers and facilitators for sustainable employment?

Methods: Eight focus groups were conducted (N = 64 autistic adults). Four groups included only participants without paid employment (N = 24), and four groups consisted exclusively of participants with current paid employment (including part-time, N = 40). All discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim to enable inductive thematic content analysis. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 9.

Results: Ten themes and thirty-four subthemes were found. Many were interconnected. Themes facilitating sustainable employment included a positive workplace atmosphere, a supportive supervisor, being able to do work that aligns with interests and talents, favorable physical working conditions, coaching, higher self-insight, higher self-esteem, and proactivity. Most themes and subthemes emerged from both groups. Differences between the groups were that those with paid employment seemed to have experienced more friendly workplaces and supervisors, had received better coaching in finding and keeping employment, had higher self-insight and higher self-esteem, were more assertive and proactive.

Conclusions: As many (sub-)themes were interrelated, the results suggest that to improve work participation, particularly two key areas are promising: (1) to realize more friendly, well-being oriented and inclusive workplaces, and (2) to increase autistic adults' self-insight into personal needs for positive wellbeing and self-knowledge regarding talents, wishes and well-being boundaries.

Keywords: Autism; Barriers and facilitators; Employment; Focus group; Self-insight; Workplace inclusion.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Ethical Approval: Prior to the study, the study proposal was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Review Board of Tilburg University (number EC 2019.68). All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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