Abstract
Perceived empathic and social self-efficacy are required to strengthen interpersonal relationships and receive social support, which are crucial for community participation, employment, and job retention of people with disabilities. This study investigated the factor structure and related psychometric properties of an instrument used to measure these two constructs among people with disabilities. Results confirmed the two-factor measurement structure, the Perceived Empathic Self-Efficacy and the Perceived Social Self-Efficacy factors. This scale can be used by rehabilitation professionals to assess vocational rehabilitation (VR) consumers’ perceived levels of empathic and social self-efficacy. It can also be used by researchers as an outcome measure to evaluate the effectiveness of social skills training interventions for VR consumers.
Keywords
The ability to interact and connect effectively with other people shapes our participation and success in life (Phillips et al., 2016). Conversely, poor social functioning minimizes opportunities to acquire social support leading to the proliferation of psychological distress (Segrin et al., 2016). The need for meaningful human interaction has long been posited as a primary motive in human behavior (Maslow, 1967). There is a large body of research evidence to support the positive relationship between social skills, social connectedness, workplace success, and health and well-being of people with and without disabilities (Miller & Chan, 2008; OCED, 2020; Phillips et al., 2016; Segrin & Taylor, 2007; Segrin et al., 2016). For example, Miller and Chan (2008) conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to identify significant predictors of life satisfaction in individuals with intellectual disabilities. Findings of their study indicated that social skills and social support were significant predictors of life satisfaction, and social skills are building blocks for social support. Kaya and colleagues (2019) examined the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) as a community participation model for cancer survivors in Turkey. Social functioning was found to be one of the significant predictors of community participation. In addition, Segrin and colleagues (2016) conducted a longitudinal cross-lagged panel analysis study that assessed a large sample of college students at Time 1 (T1), and 1 year later at Time 2 (T2). The results indicated that social skills at T1 had a significant indirect effect on lowering psychological distress at T2, through higher social support. Their findings suggest that social skills are related to social support, and both factors are protective factors against psychological distress.
As a result of the growing importance of social skills in the labor market, Deming (2017) conducted a study to evaluate a model of team production where workers “trade tasks” to exploit their comparative advantage. In Deming’s model, social skills were found to reduce coordination costs, allow workers to specialize, and work together more efficiently. Recognizing the importance of social skills in the labor market, the U.S. Department of Labor has developed the Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success curriculum that can be used by rehabilitation counselors and other disability service providers to provide soft skills training for transition-age youth with disabilities, and the curriculum has been modified for adults with disabilities.
Although social skills are essential abilities to develop social relationships, successful employment, and well-being of people with and without disabilities, measures of social skills that are validated with people with disabilities are limited. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study that psychometrically validated a social skills measure with a sample of vocational rehabilitation (VR) consumers. Di Giunta et al. (2010) developed and validated the Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale (PESSE) with a sample of youth adults in Italy, the United States, and Bolivia. It was further validated with a sample of people with serious mental illness (Sánchez et al., 2016) and they found a significant relationship between empathy and social functioning, social support, and life satisfaction. Phillips et al. (2021) developed the Social Motivation Inventory with U.S. adults with disabilities, which is a 26-item inventory with a 5-factor structure assessing both social skills and perception of social interaction. They found the Social Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectancy Subscale, and the Reading Emotional Expression Subscale were positively related to subjective well-being as well as social support from others.
Given the significant influence of social skills on social support, daily functioning, health and well-being, and workplace success, it is imperative to validate a psychometrically sound social skills measure that can be used by rehabilitation counselors and other disability service providers to evaluate social skills levels and training needs of people with disabilities receiving VR services. The purpose of this study was to validate the PESSE (Di Giunta et al., 2010) in a sample of VR consumers. The research questions for this study are (a) does the underlying factor structure of PESSE fit for VR consumers? and (b) does the PESSE provide adequate evidence for reliability and validity?
Method
Participants and Procedures
After receiving approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Texas at El Paso, VR consumers were recruited from VR offices in Alaska, Kentucky, Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin, and 277 volunteered to participate in this study. All participants completed approximately 1-hour surveys, either online or in print form, depending on client preference. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 70 years (M = 37.4, SD = 12.7). Additional demographic information is provided in Table 1.
Demographic Characteristics of Participants (N = 277) in the Study of the Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale.
Measures
Perceived social functioning
The Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale (Di Giunta et al., 2010) assesses perceived empathy and social functioning with two subscales: (a) Perceived Empathic Self-Efficacy (PESE, 6 items, “Recognize when a companion needs your help?”) and (b) Perceived Social Self-Efficacy (PSSE, 5 items, “Help someone new become part of a group to which you belong”). Each item is rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Di Giunta et al. validated both subscales across gender and countries and reported the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from .76 to .80 for samples of U.S. college students.
Social support
The 5-item RRTC Brief Social Support Scale (BSS; Tansey & Chan, 2016) was used to measure perceived social support from family and friends. Each item is rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was computed to be .87 for this study.
Subjective well-being
Subjective well-being was assessed by Satisfaction with Life (SWL) Scale developed by Diener et al. (1985). It includes five items rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was estimated at .88 with individuals with fibromyalgia (Muller et al., 2020). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was computed to be .89 for this study.
Results
Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; Byrne, 2016) was performed to cross-validate the two-factor measurement structure using IBM SPSS statistical software (Version 26; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) and AMOS Graphics statistical program. The CFA results indicate a good fit model: χ2(43, N = 277) = 171.465, p < .001, χ2/df = 3.99, Comparative-fit index (CFI) = .946, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .104 (90% confidence interval: [0.088, 0.121]), and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.045. An examination of the modification indexes suggested that one pair of error terms should be correlated: e1 (“Read your friends’ needs?”) and e2 (“Recognize when people want comfort and emotional support, even if they do not overtly exhibit it?”). The chi-square statistic for the re-specified two-factor model was still significant: χ2(42, N = 277) = 106.14, p < .001. However, the alternative indexes that are not sensitive to large sample size indicated a very good fit for the two-factor model after correlating the one-pair of error terms; χ2/df = 2.517 (less than 5), CFI = .973 (higher than .90), RMSEA = 0.074 (90% confidence interval: [0.057, 0.092]; less than .08), and the SRMR = .047 (less than .08). In addition, all items in the two-factor model significantly loaded on their respective factors ranging from .73 to .87 for the PESE, and from .73 to .88 for the PSSE (see Figure 1). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were .93 for the PESE and .91 for the PSSE. The mean rating for PESE and PSSE were 3.66 (SD = 1.08) and 3.68 (SD = 1.12), respectively, and they are significantly correlated to each other (r = .67, p < .01).
Confirmatory factor analysis results for the two-factor model of the Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale.
A correlational analysis was conducted to examine the relationship of the PESE and the PSSE with social support and life satisfaction to provide evidence of convergent validity. The PESE was positively associated with social support (r = .14, p < .05) and life satisfaction (r = .17, p < .01). The PSSE was also positively related to social support (r = .22, p < .01) and life satisfaction (r = .28, p < .05).
Discussion
Social skills are a building block for social connectedness leading to workplace success and health and well-being of people with and without disabilities (Miller & Chan, 2008; OCED, 2020; Phillips et al., 2016; Segrin et al., 2016). However, rehabilitation research that validated social skills measures with VR consumers has been limited. Results of this study confirmed the two-factor measurement structure of the PESSE (i.e., PESE and PSSE) with VR consumers. The findings indicated both PESE and PSSE had significant relationships with perceived social support from family and friends, as well as life satisfaction, suggesting people with high perceived empathic and or social skills self-efficacy have higher perceived social support and satisfaction in their life, and vice versa. However, it should be noted that although there were significant relationships between both subfactors and social support and life satisfaction, the relationships were relatively weak. Recognizing emotional expression is an important factor in building a close interpersonal relationship; however, research evidence had also shown that people who were overly sensitive to others’ emotions were more likely to feel stressed or disappointed when their needs were unmet in a relationship (e.g., Aron, 2013). Moreover, items on the PSSE assess self-efficacy on the action of social interaction, and self-efficacy is an essential factor for taking specific actions. However, it does not guarantee the person exercises the action, which might be one of the reasons for the lower relationships between PSSE and social support and life satisfaction.
Implications
Social skills are imperative to participate and integrate into the employment opportunities and workplace participation for people with and without disabilities, leading to higher quality-of-life outcomes. There have been increased needs for employment-related social skills interventions for VR consumers. Although, social skills training programs that focus on social skills in employment opportunities and workplace participation have been developed (e.g., Hughes et al., 2011; Pereira-Guizzo et al., 2019; Walsh et al., 2018), the effectiveness of those interventions were evaluated by observations or evaluations by others, which require more time and resources, limiting utilization as outcome measures. The PESSE, a psychometrically validated short measure, will promote the ease of use in rehabilitation counseling and clinical practice setting. Examples for which it might be useful include the previously mentioned soft skills training curriculum of the U.S. Department of Labor and Social and Emotional Skills, Well-being, Connectedness, and Success (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2020). Integrating the PESSE into soft skills training programs such as these provide a validated, replicable measure for rehabilitation counselors and other disability service providers to implement in their services. The PESSE can be used as a baseline measurement to track progress made by clients receiving the training, which then can be used for developing a targeted rehabilitation service plan. This short assessment can also be used as a screening measure before considering to use more detailed measures such as the Social Motivation Inventory (Phillips et al., 2021). Moreover, this two-factor measure allows us to understand differences in empathic self-efficacy and social self-efficacy among VR consumers and provide insight into the development of interventions to promote their social participation, including their career development, vocational exploration, job placement, and job retention (Phillips et al., 2021).
Limitations
The main limitation of this study is the relatively small correlations between the two subscales of the PESSE and the constructs used for construct validity (i.e., social support and life satisfaction). These results suggest additional items should be considered in future research to enhance the validity to assess similar constructs of social support and life satisfaction, which will also increase the PESSE’s internal consistency reliability for use in developing and evaluating this scale for various populations. Another limitation is the convenience sample of VR clients that was used, which may limit generalizability.
Conclusion
Perceived empathic and social self-efficacy are required to strengthen interpersonal relationships and receive social support, which are crucial for community participation, employment, and job retention of people with disabilities. This study validated the PESSE with a sample of people with disabilities. This scale can be used by rehabilitation counselors to assess how their clients perceive their empathic and social self-efficacy, along with use as an outcome measure to evaluate the effectiveness of social skills training interventions for people with disabilities.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
