Telehealth noninferior to in person for vocational counseling: A comparison study of “Asking for Help” group intervention to improve soft skills

Abstract

Employment success often hinges on crucial work-related soft skills, such as the ability to seek help and solve problems. This pilot study aimed to assess the practicality of a group intervention based upon a direct skills teaching (DST) approach to teach work-related help-seeking skills to individuals with disabilities. The “Asking for Help” intervention, conducted in either in person or via telehealth, involved 152 participants with disabilities. Both modalities showed improvement in participants’ perceptions of work-related soft skill of asking for help. Participants experienced increased confidence in asking for help at employment settings and expressed high satisfaction with the intervention. Both groups increased career adaptabilities, while the telehealth group also increased occupational self-efficacy, and the in-person group showed increased work-related soft skills. Both groups showed comparable positive results, supporting their effectiveness in teaching help-seeking skills using a preplanned curriculum. Implications of findings are discussed.