Relations Among School Professionals' Knowledge, Previous Experience, and Self-Efficacy for Working with Students with ASD

Background: Teachers and other school professionals who work with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) face unique challenges (Busby, Ingram, Bowron, Oliver, & Lyons, 2012) and frequently report high levels of burnout (Jennett, Harris, & Mesibov, 2003). Teacher self-efficacy may buffer teachers and school professionals against stress and burnout. Teacher self-efficacy has been associated with quality of instruction, innovation in teaching methods, and more effective classroom management, among other positive outcomes (Ruble, Usher, & McGrew, 2011). Fostering self-efficacy among school professionals may therefore be a useful goal in working toward providing quality education for students with ASD, and some evidence suggests that training teachers in a given approach for working with students with ASD is positively related to feelings of self-efficacy (Jennett, Harris, & Mesibov, 2003).  

Objectives: The objective of the present study was to examine the self-efficacy of school professionals working with students with ASD, focusing on the predictive ability of variables including school professionals’ knowledge about ASD, previous training regarding ASD and evidence-based practices, and years working with students with ASD.

Methods:  Participants in the present study were school professionals from New York State school districts participating in a series of trainings on best practices for educating students with ASD. Prior to beginning training, school professionals completed the Autism Self-Efficacy Scale for Teachers (ASSET; Ruble, Toland, Birdwhistell, McGrew & Usher, 2013) and an assessment of knowledge about ASD and evidence-based practices created specifically for the current project. School professionals also provided information about the number of years they had been working with students with ASD and previous training they had received on ASD and evidence-based programs, specifically positive behavior support (PBS). Preliminary results from the study (data collection ongoing) are based on 41 school professionals who participated in trainings during September-October, 2014.

Results: Bivariate correlations among the variables revealed that self-efficacy, knowledge about ASD, previous training on ASD, and previous training on PBS were all positively correlated (See Table 1). Number of years working with students with ASD was not correlated with any of the previously mentioned variables. Multiple regression was employed to examine the relative utility of each of the four independent variables (knowledge about ASD, previous training in ASD, previous training in PBS, and experience working with students with ASD) in predicting self-efficacy. When all four predictors were entered together, the full model accounted for 55% of the variance in school professional self-efficacy. Among the variables, previous training on positive behavior support was the best predictor of self-efficacy (β=0.495, t=3.260, p=.002).

Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that the self-efficacy of school professionals for working with students with ASD is related to individual knowledge about ASD and previous training in ASD and evidence-based practices such as PBS. When taken together, training in PBS provided the best prediction of self-efficacy. This finding suggests that it is not merely time spent with students with ASD or training on ASD in general that has the largest impact on self-efficacy, but rather specific training on evidence-based practices.