Background 

The current disability support workforce is experiencing a crisis in both recruitment and retention (Laws& Hewitt, 2020). The application of positive psychology interventions has improved job satisfaction for multiple social service professions including general educators (Zwart et al, 2015) and healthcare professionals (Oi et al., 2014). This session will describe a pilot project delivering positive psychology-focused professional development with two specialized autism schools. 

A secondary feasibility study is also being conducted directly with autistic students in the schools where professional development is occurring. Autistic individuals are not achieving the desired life-course outcomes (Roux et al, 2015). Positive psychology has limited adoption in the autistic population. The hypothesis is that positive psychology practices could improve the life-course outcomes of the autistic population. 

Aims

1. To assess the effect of professional development and coaching of wellbeing practices on the recruitment and retention of social service professionals working in autism services.
2. To assess the feasibility of implementing wellbeing practices with autistic youth attending a specialized school.

Method

A small-scale pilot study was conducted to assess methods and procedures for Aim 1. For Aim 2 a feasibility study was utilized to determine whether the application of positive psychology to the autistic population is appropriate for further testing.  

Results

Aim 1 - Pre-post data measuring wellbeing demonstrated an effect and social validity measures were collected from the professionals engaged in the intervention

Aim 2 – Descriptive analysis of the implementation of applying positive psychology practices with autistic youth will be shared.

Conclusion

People with disabilities are underrepresented in the field of positive psychology. This presentation will provide data from an initial pilot study promoting wellbeing for both the professionals supporting people living with disabilities and autistic individuals themselves. Given that approximately 25% of the population (Okoro, et al, 2016) is living with a disability it is imperative that this population be represented in the field of positive psychology.