Introduction
The Current Study
Method
Participants
Modification group mentees n = 8 | Waitlist control group mentees n = 7 | Mentors n = 11 | |
---|---|---|---|
Age | |||
Mean (SD), years | 34 (12) | 31 (7) | 41 (13.3) |
Median, years | 31 | 28 | 37 |
Range, years | 19–54 | 24–42 | 27–63 |
Gender | |||
Female (including transgender female) | 3 | 2 | 6 |
Male (including transgender male) | 4 | 3 | 5 |
Non-binary or other | 1 | 2 | – |
Ethnicity | |||
White | 6 | 7 | 11 |
Black | 1 | – | – |
Mixed | 1 | – | – |
Self-identified as autistic (incl those undergoing autism assessment at time of study) | 2 | 1 | – |
Clinical autism diagnosis | 6 | 6 | 3 |
Co-occurring conditions | |||
Anxiety | 4 | 5 | N/A |
ADHD | – | – | N/A |
BPD | – | 1 | N/A |
Depression | 5 | 4 | N/A |
Dyslexia | 1 | – | N/A |
Dyspraxia | 1 | – | N/A |
OCD | 1 | 1 | N/A |
Median years in performing arts (range) | 5 (1–20) | 4 (1–12) | 10 (6–35) |
Recruitment
Mentoring Programme
Measures
Quantitative Measures
Qualitative Measures
Procedure
Data Analysis
Quantitative Analysis
Qualitative Analysis
Results
Quantitative Results
Mentee Characteristics
Measure | Group | Pre-intervention 0 weeks modification group n = 6 control group n = 7 | Post-intervention 11 weeks modification group n = 6 control group n = 7 | Follow-up 26 weeks modification group n = 5 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M | SD | Range | M | SD | Range | M | SD | Range | ||
Occupational self-efficacy | Modification group | 6.1 | 2.4 | 2.7–8.8 | 8.1 | 0.9 | 6.7–8.9 | 8.2 | 1.2 | 6.5–9.6 |
Control group | 4.9 | 1.8 | 1.5–6.8 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 1.7–6.8 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
WHOQOL-BREF Physical domain | Modification group | 13.3 | 4.2 | 7–18 | 15.5 | 2.2 | 13–19 | 16.0 | 2.5 | 12–18 |
Control group | 13.0 | 1.4 | 11–15 | 13.3 | 2.2 | 10–17 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
WHOQOL-BREF Psychological domain | Modification group | 12.7 | 4.0 | 5–17 | 15.5 | 1.8 | 13–18 | 15.2 | 2.2 | 13–18 |
Control group | 11.0 | 1.2 | 10–13 | 12.0 | 1.5 | 11–15 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
WHOQOL-BREF Social domain | Modification group | 11.8 | 5.4 | 5–20 | 15.3 | 3.6 | 9–20 | 13.6 | 4.2 | 9–20 |
Control group | 13.3 | 3.0 | 8–16 | 13.0 | 2.9 | 8–15 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
WHOQOL-BREF Environment domain | Modification group | 12.5 | 4.0 | 6–18 | 15.8 | 2.6 | 12–19 | 15.2 | 3.2 | 11–20 |
Control group | 12.4 | 1.5 | 10–14 | 13.6 | 2.4 | 11–18 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
ASQoL Total | Modification group | 3.0 | 1.3 | 1.4–4.5 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 2.8–4.5 | 3.6 | 0.8 | 3–5 |
Control group | 2.8 | 0.5 | 2.4–3.9 | 3.1 | 0.4 | 2.5–3.8 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
ASQoL Global | Modification group | 4.3 | 1.2 | 2–5 | 4.7 | 0.8 | 3–5 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 3–5 |
Control group | 3.9 | 1.1 | 2–5 | 3.7 | 1.1 | 3–5 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Analyses
Qualitative Results
Themes | Subthemes | Quotations |
---|---|---|
Practical concerns | Identifying a schedule that works | “the reality of my life as a single mother of three and trying to make a living as a performing artist, some of that stuff gets in the way” [Mentee E] |
“I work like 5 days a week, so it would just be … just … well, timing our mentoring sessions right” [Mentee F] | ||
“I’m a disabled person myself I think working around both our access requirements will be interesting but not necessarily a challenge” [Mentor U] | ||
Reaching shared understanding | “Being able to say what I want to say I find difficult to get the words across. To make people understand what I’m trying to say” [Mentee D] | |
“I'm anticipating that there will be some issues around clarity, maybe, of what they want and how I can help them” [Mentor X] | ||
“Effectively communicating what the issues are” [Mentee Q] | ||
Anxious about so many unknowns | Apprehensive about the unspecified aspects of the mentoring | “Just being nervous about not knowing who and speaking to and what they’ll be like, just the unknown of it all” [Mentee D] |
“I am nervous, I am … I am very … I get … I am … I don’t know what the challenges are going to be” [Mentee R] | ||
“There is definitely a big unknown question mark at this point about what that person is going to need” [Mentor W] | ||
So much depends on the strength of the relationship | “I’m apprehensive that I like won’t be able to like establish a good relationship with the mentee and that we won’t find a good way of talking” [Mentor T] | |
“It will rely completely on the relationship with the other person” [Mentee U] | ||
“I think it will probably take a while to work out the best way of working together” [Mentor V] | ||
Will it be a positive experience? | “I would worry that their experience of it wasn’t positive, just generally positive. And maybe that has to do with like lack of communication if the person stops making contact that I might feel well because I’m not doing a very good job or just not being able to pitch it right” [Mentor Y] | |
“I just wouldn’t be useful and that the mentee would find it … that they maybe would want to opt out after a few sessions” [Mentor S] | ||
A place to share and learn | A chance to feel less isolated | “Getting advice of going, “Okay, I’m not the only one going through this”; just to find out that there is still a hand out kind of going, “Yeah, we’re all going through this together”” [Mentee W] |
“I think it will provide me with purpose, it will provide me with knowing there are people out there like me. That’s really important” [Mentor Z] | ||
“I like the fact that the programme was looking at ASD and autism and that you can talk to someone who, you know, has had similar challenges or experiences and I think that will be really very nice for me because you don’t always get that opportunity” [Mentee N] | ||
Increase autism knowledge | “It will make me think about myself in the industry more, I also think it’s a really brilliant opportunity to gain skills in working with autistic people and working with them in the arts” [Mentor Y] | |
“It’ll help if I’m working with any other people with autism in the future” [Mentor P] | ||
“I think this will be really beneficial for me to understand how the industry can be more accessible to autistic professionals” [Mentor W] | ||
Hopeful for long-term benefits | Increased self-belief | “What this mentoring could do for me is that I can … this can give me the confidence to build up myself and then say okay let’s see what … let’s see how we go down this route” [Mentee L] |
“It’s building my confidence as a mentor as well if I see that I have really helped someone and they’re really happy with it and it helps them go further in their career” [Mentor B] | ||
“I hope it’s going to make me more confident to do this kind of thing more often because it’s something that I’ve been planning to do for a long time” [Mentor Q] | ||
“Increased confidence and feeling like it is my right to try to do these things and access these spaces” [Mentee U] | ||
Mapping out career strategies | “Giving me some necessary skills and advice as to how to improve my own career from where it’s at the moment “ [Mentee K] | |
“Would find a little bit more of a pathway for myself and a little bit more of a strategy” [Mentee J] | ||
“It’s also for them to sow seeds in you so that you can better mentor other people after and for you to sow seeds in them that might blossom a year, 2 years down the line” [Mentor Z] |
Themes | Subthemes | Quotations |
---|---|---|
A need for flexibility | One structure doesn’t suit all | “I think 2 weeks is a great amount of time to be able to not only think about the previous session we’d talked about but also gear up to the next session and the work you’ve developed going into that next session” [Mentee I] |
“I would’ve liked is to be able to ration the sessions over a period of weeks or months” [Mentee O] | ||
“I honestly think the video chat was probably best because meeting face to face would’ve caused so many sensory difficulties and so much exhaustion from doing that I wouldn’t have got the same out of it. So, it was actually really convenient” [Mentee E] | ||
“I think the fact we were only able to communicate over Skype or phone was a problem. I think it’s different whenever you’re with someone in person” [Mentee A] | ||
“I found that amount of time to be pretty good. It meant that I only had to schedule an hour for the meeting but that was long enough to talk about stuff” [Mentee H] | ||
“It was difficult for them to engage for the whole hour, so we would often do half an hour to 40 min and then have other tasks that we would agree for the last 20 min” [Mentor S] | ||
Support needs to be implemented at the right time | “I think I would possibly wait… if I had a chance to start at whatever time I wanted I think I’d possibly wait until I was attempting to make a show or attempting to put on a show somewhere because then I could get advice on how to find a venue and funding and stuff, which is not advice that I think can be given hypothetically” [Mentee H] | |
“I think it was a good idea in principle. I think [my mentee] and I had difficulties in that they just weren’t ready to plan or to work on anything, so that was kind of hard” [Mentor U] | ||
Being accommodating can be challenging | “I’m really up for being flexible, but I think I really tried to… like I think I really inconvenienced myself a few times because I was trying to just work with their schedule, so I think I probably could’ve been a bit more, “Yeah, we can rearrange but I can do this time”, rather than, “Yeah, sure, I can do four o’clock; I’ll make it work”, kind of thing” [Mentor T] | |
“I found the kind of last minute cancellations and trying to rearrange things just frustrating” [Mentor X] | ||
Good communication is key for managing expectations | “Be a bit more aware of how much is being put on each other’s plate and enforce that only so many things should be discussed, have clearer set of … be clearer with each other about how much communication’s going to be had because the mentor was trying to get more out of me than I was able to give both in time and mental health wise” [Mentee C] | |
“I think it worked well in terms of communication because it was always very, you know, we’ll speak on Skype on this day at this time and I knew what to expect and it was structured so we knew what we were going to be talking about and what the goals were so having the goals and the structure made me able to kind of follow the process if you know what I mean without getting anxious” [Mentee N] | ||
A confidence boost for many | Not defining success by other people’s standards | “To value myself because I’m me rather than place the values of others on myself if that makes sense, so stop like … to just say that I’m enough kind of thing” [Mentee B] |
“So it’s very much not the case of needing 100% from somebody to give me the thumbs up, but rather it’s for me to give myself the thumbs up” [Mentee I] | ||
“Really helped me focus on putting myself at the heart of my work, which was a journey that I’d sort of started – it was like an idea – but I think the mentoring really embedded that and gave me the confidence to say, “Actually, my experience is valid”” [Mentee E] | ||
Reflecting on achievements | “Being able to remind me about how effective these efforts I’m doing currently because with a lot of this kind of work you're sort of shouting into a vacuum and you don’t get much feedback until something clicks and so to be told, or at least to sort of realise that the stuff that you’re doing is actually proactive and positive is a helpful step in itself” [Mentee M] | |
“You recognise achievements [together] that they’ve made, which they made a whole load in the time that we spoke together” [Mentor R] | ||
Opening the door to new opportunities | “I’ve started to network and I’m like confident enough to go on my own and everything which was a goal” [Mentee N] | |
“I ended up submitting a play for [a playwriting prize] which I … I suppose I wanted to do but didn’t necessarily believe I would and it happened” [Mentee J] | ||
Fostering an empathetic space | A safe and supportive environment | “It seemed like there was a space that he could actually be really truthful about the things that he does actually genuinely struggle with” [Mentor S] |
“It was just really, really lovely to have someone with that, you know, that level of experience to talk these things through with and be encouraged by” [Mentee J] | ||
Feeling less alone | “I think that the reduction in my anxiety and the feeling of being less alone is the most important” [Mentee N] | |
“It’s been reassuring really, you know, just knowing that … knowing that I’m not necessarily alone in my struggles” [Mentee K] | ||
A mentor with lived experience is highly valuable | “They felt they could talk about a lot of stuff because I’m autistic and they’re autistic that they probably wouldn’t have raised if I wasn’t because when you’re scared of saying, “Oh I can’t, you know, I can’t ring them up,” you know, I probably wouldn’t tell a non-autistic person that, so there was a bit more openness I feel” [Mentor Z] | |
“A benefit of having an autist Mentor: they’d been through it and understood and had dealt with all that stuff themselves” [Mentee E] | ||
“In other similar sessions that I’ve done I’m essentially having to explain the problems that exist more than actually taking advantage of the mentoring because people who are mentoring me have no idea of the barriers that exist for me” [Mentee M] | ||
The knowledge exchange could go further | “I think it might have been useful to have a chat sort of halfway through the mentoring sessions with other mentors just to see how they’re managing that balance” [Mentor V] | |
“Something like establishing a network of mentors and mentees but how that would look I have no idea at the moment but that might be an interesting thing for people to exchange sort of insights that they want to share if that’s even an option” [Mentor Q] | ||
A mutual learning opportunity | New knowledge | “Time management and organisation: with the things that we’d spoken about and the techniques that had been shared with me I thought, “I’ve got a better understanding of this now”” [Mentee F] |
“I learnt quite a lot about breaking things down. I guess what I was asked to do in that process quite a lot was use my experience and explain my take on something, and I was trying to do in as clear a way as possible. And so I think it definitely helped me to understand the things I know better” [Mentor T] | ||
“I found it really beneficial for my own professional artistic output in terms of, you know, they always say that teaching is the best way to learn” [Mentor Y] | ||
Increased autism knowledge for mentors | “They’re not an expert in autism so I think the benefits that they got is that they spoke to an actually autistic artist…So, in terms of education about autism I think that was very good because now they can go away and they’ll go, “Oh yeah, I understand a bit more now about autism and that it’s a spectrum”” [Mentee G] | |
“I feel l have been a lot more prepared from this mentorship programme to then go into working with autistic creatives” [Mentor W] | ||
A constructive experience | “It’s been great. Like I say, it’s really been transformative; more so than any other personal development I’ve done and I’ve done a lot over the years” [Mentee E] | |
“It’s just been really great to have this over this period of time. It’s got me focusing on really positive things, I’ve learned a lot from it, a huge amount. So yeah, I mean for me it’s been a very positive experience” [Mentee J] | ||
The relationship can make or break the support | A clash of personalities | “We both reacted and didn’t really do anything to … positively progress those emotions we were feeling” [Mentee C] |
“This phase started off a little bit more challenging just because of personalities as in mind-sets. It was a little bit more of a challenge than in the last one to begin with but I think the results speak for themselves” [Mentor Q] | ||
Strong bonds can lead to success | “Just really easy, like [my mentor] is very easy to get along with, really personable and kind and, you know, you could tell that they wanted the best, like they were thinking about my best interest so that was very helpful” [Mentee N] | |
“I felt like I built up a really good relationship with [my mentee] and we had a lot to talk about” [Mentor T] |
Pre-Mentoring Interviews
A Place to Share and Learn
Anxious About So Many Unknowns
Practical Concerns
Hopeful for Long-Term Benefits
Post-Mentoring Interviews
A Confidence Boost for Many
Being able to remind me about how effective these efforts I’m doing currently because with a lot of this kind of work you’re sort of shouting into a vacuum and you don’t get much feedback until something clicks and so to be told, or at least to sort of realise that the stuff that you’re doing is actually proactive and positive is a helpful step in itself [Mentee M].
Fostering an Empathetic Space
A Mutual Learning Opportunity
They’re not an expert in autism so I think the benefits that they got is that they spoke to an actually autistic artist… So, in terms of education about autism I think that was very good because now they can go away and they’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, I understand a bit more now about autism and that it’s a spectrum’ [Mentee G].
It’s just been really great to have this over this period of time. It’s got me focusing on really positive things, I’ve learned a lot from it, a huge amount. So yeah, I mean for me it’s been a very positive experience [Mentee J]
Good Communication is Key for Managing Expectations
I think it worked well in terms of communication because it was always very, you know, we’ll speak on Skype on this day at this time and I knew what to expect and it was structured so we knew what we were going to be talking about and what the goals were so having the goals and the structure made me able to kind of follow the process if you know what I mean without getting anxious [Mentee N].
Be a bit more aware of how much is being put on each other’s plate and enforce that only so many things should be discussed… be clearer with each other about how much communication is going to be had because the mentor was trying to get more out of me than I was able to give both in time and mental health wise [Mentee C].
The Relationship Can Make or Break the Support
This phase started off a little bit more challenging just because of personalities as in mind-sets. It was a little bit more of a challenge than in the last [mentoring relationship] to begin with, but I think the results speak for themselves [Mentor Q].
A Need for Flexibility
I honestly think the video chat was probably best because meeting face-to-face would’ve caused so many sensory difficulties and so much exhaustion from doing that I wouldn’t have got the same out of it. So, it was actually really convenient [Mentee E]
I’m really up for being flexible… like I think I really inconvenienced myself a few times because I was trying to just work with their schedule, so I think I probably could’ve been a bit more, ‘Yeah, we can rearrange but I can do this time’, rather than, ‘Yeah, sure, I can do four o’clock; I’ll make it work, kind of thing [Mentor T].