Strengthening Skills Behavioral Intervention for Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in adaptive functioning, quality of life, and prospective memory among adults with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) who complete Strengthening Skills, a multi-faceted, behavioral intervention that combines the PEERS Social Skills program with cognitive compensation training, mindfulness-based emotional regulation, and support group components. Participants and their study partners (e.g., spouse, parent, friend) will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: Strengthening Skills, PEERS only, or a delayed treatment control group. The Strengthening Skills group will meet weekly for 3 hours for 16 weeks and will learn strategies for gaining and maintaining independence and emotion regulation. Participants will also learn strategies from the PEERS Social Skills Program. The PEERS only group will meet weekly for 1.5 hours for 16 weeks and will only learn strategies from the PEERS Social Skills Program. The delayed treatment control group will participant in data collection at four time points over a 10-month wait period, after which, they will be enrolled into the Strengthening Skills Program. Behavioral self-report data will be collected and a prospective memory assessment will be conducted before and after participation in the 16-week programs. Behavioral self-report data will also be collected at remote 3- and 6-month follow-up visits.

Conditions

• Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Strengthening Skills Program

The Strengthening Skills Program is a new, multi-component intervention. It includes three components: (1) Forming habits to compensate for the difficulties many adults with ASD have with thinking flexibly, planning, and time management. It will emphasize habit-forming behaviors to compensate for weaknesses in functional skills by training on practical techniques; (2) Content from the PEERS Social Skills program to target social challenges, and (3) strategies derived from Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction to target emotion regulation.

BEHAVIORAL

PEERS Social Skills Program

PEERS® is a well-established social communication training program, initially developed for adolescents, and more recently extended to young adults with ASD. Program content will be adapted slightly so as to be appropriate for older adults.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Arizona State University

  collaborator OTHER

• Mayo Clinic

  collaborator OTHER

• Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nicole L Matthews, Ph.D. · Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center

• Brittany B Braden, Ph.D. · Arizona State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-04-01

Primary Completion

2023-04-30

Completion

2023-04-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations