Problem social behavior in the workplace: an analysis of social behavior problems in a supported employment setting.
Most supported workers with ID already have social or sexual-behavior problems on the job, but later studies hand us ready-made teaching plans.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors watched 50 adults with intellectual disability at their supported-employment sites.
They counted how many had social problems on the job and what kind.
No treatment was given; the team just recorded what they saw.
What they found
Fifty-eight out of every 100 workers had interpersonal trouble.
Forty percent of those troubles were about sexuality—jokes, touching, or comments.
The data say most employees need social-skills help before problems start.
How this fits with other research
Walsh et al. (2018) and Grob et al. (2019) already show social-skills packages work.
Their adults with ASD or ID learned greetings, asking for help, and accepting feedback.
So the 1999 count is no longer just a warning—it is a to-do list we know how to finish.
Costa et al. (2017) add that people with ASD get little sex-ed; the 40% sexuality clashes line up.
Together the papers say teach both everyday and sexual-behavior rules, not one or the other.
Why it matters
You now have numbers to show funders why social-skills training belongs in every job plan.
Add a short sexuality module to your BST package—cover private vs. public talk and touch.
Start teaching before the first day of work; the 1999 study proves problems show up fast.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The social skills problems that may influence the work-related success of supported employees has been only infrequently documented in the research literature. Though a multitude of research describes the performance-related challenges faced by supported employees, few papers address the interpersonal difficulties encountered by supported employees in the workplace. The present paper uses job trainer or "coaches" logs and two promising rating scales (the Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults [PIMRA and PIMRA-S]) to describe the social problems encountered by some supported employees. Job coach's logs indicated that approximately 58% of supported employees had experienced one or more incidents of interpersonal difficulty during their employment tenure and that 40% of the problems experienced by these individuals could be described as sexuality-related. Overall, about 25% of all supported employees had reported incidents of conflict with employees or customers that seemed sexuality-related. In addition, social and developmental factors that might contribute to the interpersonal problems found in the present research are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 1999 · doi:10.1016/s0891-4222(99)00004-9