Problem social behavior in the workplace: An analysis of social behavior problems in a supported employment setting

The social skills problems that may influence the work-related success of s upported employees has been only infrequently documented in the research li terature. Though a multitude of research describes the performance-related challenges faced by supported employees, few papers address the interperson al difficulties encountered by supported employees in the war]workplace. Th e 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 supporte d employees. Job coach's logs indicated that approximately 58% of supported employees had experienced one or more incidents of interpersonal difficult y during their employment tenure and that 40% of the problems experienced b y these individuals could be described as sexuality-related. Overall, about 25% of all supported employees had reported incidents of conflict with emp loyees or customers that seemed sexuality-related. In addition, social and developmental factors that might contribute to the interpersonal problems f ound in the present research are discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.