Improving Access to Community Occupations via Rideshare: A Pilot Study With Autistic Adults.
Importance: Adults with autism often face barriers to community access for work and leisure, yet few programs address transportation independence and safety. This study evaluated the Safe Rideshare Program (SRP), designed to teach autistic adults to use rideshare services. Objective: To assess accep...
| Publicado en: | American Journal of Occupational Therapy Vol. 80; no. 3; pp. 1 - 11 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
American Occupational Therapy Association
May/Jun2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=193840517&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 193840517 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 02729490 44I jtl: American Journal of Occupational Therapy issn: 02729490 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May/Jun2026 vid: 80 iid: 3 pid: 6680 pub: American Occupational Therapy Association place: North Bethesda, Maryland artinfo: ui: 193840517 193840517 193840517 10.5014/ajot.2026.051398 193840517 ppf: 1 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Improving Access to Community Occupations via Rideshare: A Pilot Study With Autistic Adults. aug: au: Reynolds, Stacey Estrada, Karla Feder, Hannah Jenkins, Brandon Medina, Maria Miller, Austin Robinson, Amanda M. Sabo, Roy T. Brooke, Alissa Molinelli affil: Professor and Director of Research, Department of Occupational Therapy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond sug: subj: Program Evaluation Autism Spectrum Disorder Rehabilitation Patient Education Methods Patient Attitudes Evaluation Transportation of Patients Evaluation Social Participation Student Attitudes Employee Attitudes Employees Psychosocial Factors Students, Occupational Therapy Psychosocial Factors Human Pilot Studies Pretest-Posttest Design Videorecording Education, Non-Traditional Communities Virginia Convenience Sample Adolescence Adult Male Female Repeated Measures Questionnaires Checklists Patient Safety After Care Mobile Applications Descriptive Statistics Poisson Distribution Regression Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test Narratives Feedback Functional Status Confidence Intervals Funding Source Adolescent: 13-18 years Adult: 19-44 years Male Female ab: Importance: Adults with autism often face barriers to community access for work and leisure, yet few programs address transportation independence and safety. This study evaluated the Safe Rideshare Program (SRP), designed to teach autistic adults to use rideshare services. Objective: To assess acceptability, appropriateness, and the potential impact of the SRP and to evaluate changes in rideshare use for community access over a 2-mo follow-up period. Design: A one-group, pretest–posttest study. Setting: Community. Participants: Thirteen autistic adults. Intervention: The SRP consisted of five virtual training modules completed synchronously with project trainers via Zoom, followed by eight ride-along sessions using either Uber or Lyft rideshare services. Outcomes and Measures: Intervention acceptability was rated by participants using the Acceptability of Intervention Measure. Appropriateness of the intervention was assessed by trainers using the Intervention Appropriateness Measure. A 30-item Rideshare Independence Checklist was used to assess independence and safety using rideshare services. Results: Of the 13 enrolled participants, 12 completed the program with strong acceptability and appropriateness ratings (≥75% threshold was met). Independence and safety significantly improved during the intervention, and at the 2-mo follow-up, 8 participants reported increased independent rides (p =.011). Conclusions and Relevance: The SRP demonstrated preliminary acceptability and appropriateness, as well as the potential to improve transportation independence, safety, and community access for autistic adults. Plain-Language Summary: Many autistic adults face challenges accessing their communities for work, shopping, or social activities because of transportation barriers. Learning how to use rideshare services, such as Uber or Lyft, can help address this issue, but few programs are designed to teach these skills safely and effectively. To fill this gap, our team developed the Safe Rideshare Program (SRP) and tested its usefulness. Thirteen autistic adults, ages 18 to 24 yr, participated in this study. Most participants completed the entire program and gave it high ratings for being easy to follow and helpful. Trainers who worked with the participants also reported that the program was useful. By the end of the training, participants showed significant improvements in their ability to use rideshare services independently and safely. Two months after finishing the program, many participants continued to use rideshare services. On the basis of our preliminary findings, we believe that the SRP shows promise in helping autistic adults overcome transportation barriers and gain more independence. With improved access to transportation, participants were able to engage in more community activities, which can improve their quality of life and open up new opportunities for engagement. The authors developed the Safe Rideshare Program and tested its usefulness in teaching autistic adults how to use rideshare services. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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