BACKGROUND

Youth with disabilities (YWDs) in countries like the Philippines face substantial employment barriers. While school-to-work (STW) transition programs and strong family support are crucial for their success, family involvement in planning is often insufficient.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to explore the perspectives of families of YWDs on STW transition in the Philippines and the differences in perspectives among families from varying socioeconomic backgrounds.

METHODS

This exploratory-descriptive qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews with seven primary caregivers of YWDs in Metro Manila, representing diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Thematic analysis was employed.

RESULTS

Three key themes emerged. First, families underscored the value of education in shaping STW transition outcomes, emphasizing its role in building literacy and practical life skills and highlighting the need for improved school support and educator training. Second, significant challenges in accessing support and transition services were reported, with financial constraints in obtaining government aid being a major hurdle regardless of socioeconomic status. Finally, caregivers stressed the family's vital role in transitioning YWDs for adulthood and work, particularly in fostering independence, nurturing strengths, and developing relevant skills for future employment.

CONCLUSION

This study explored the Filipino families' shared perspectives on STW transition, highlighting the value of education, challenges in accessing support, and the family's role in the transition process. It emphasized the need for accessible and inclusive transition services addressing socioeconomic and cultural factors affecting YWDs and their families. Enhanced stakeholder collaboration is crucial in creating comprehensive and culturally relevant STW services that promote successful workforce integration of YWDs.

Human ; Employment, Supported ; Occupations ; Vocation

Background: The pandemic brought permanent changes in education in terms of set-up and delivery. In the Philippines, most universities switched to online learning to provide educational continuity to their students. Without direct supervision from instructors, higher educational level learners bear greater responsibility for their learning behaviors, emphasizing the need to employ online self-regulated learning (OSRL) skills, which are goal setting, environment structuring, time management, help-seeking, self-evaluation, and metacognition. Objectives: This study examined the OSRL skills of occupational therapy (OT) students enrolled in a full online curriculum at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) during the academic year (A.Y.) 2020-2021. It also describes the differences between students' OSRL skills and their demographic characteristics—sex, age, year level, and student status. Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional records review of the 2021 Student Life Survey, which was deployed through Google Forms to a total of 205 respondents. Responses from the Online Self-Regulated Questionnaire were extracted and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS version 27, using the Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis Test with a significance level set at 0.050. Results: Data analysis showed that UST OT students reported average to high levels of online self-regulated learning, with the highest SRL mean score in environmental structuring and goal setting. The students’ online self-regulated learning in goal setting is statistically significant to sex (p= 0.021) and age (p= 0.036). Additionally, year levels have a significant difference in task strategies (p= 0.042) and time management (p= 0.006). Conclusion OSRL skills vary depending on the students’ contexts and learning environment. They are independent of the students’ demographic characteristics. These findings could inform stakeholders and researchers about students’ OSRL levels, which can help in providing pedagogical strategies that will enhance students' self-regulated learning in online education.
Occupational Therapy