The Effects of a Nurse-led Community-based Sailing Programme on Resilience of School-aged Children With Autism

Summary

The goal of this pilot RCT is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the community-based sailing program and to assess the preliminary effects before the main RCT, given the literature on sailing for children with ASD has not yet been established.

Does intervention improve the resilience of participants? Does intervention improve the quality of life, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and social functioning outcomes of participants?

Researchers will compare the effect of community-based sailing to the attention control group at baseline, following randomisation, and post-intervention

Participants will:

Participants in the intervention group will participate in a nurse-led community-based sailing programme over six days, with each day consisting of 4 sessions, each lasting an hour, for a total of 24 hours.

Participants in the attention control group will engage in crafting activities with minimal difficulty, focusing on maintaining attention without any emotional or reflective discussions.

Conditions

• Autistic Disorders Spectrum
• Child Development

Interventions

OTHER

Community-based sailing

A nurse-led community-based sailing programme is validated by an expert panel including professionals from various fields, such as a registered nurse, academia, and qualified sailing instructors, delivered in a group of 6 participants, incorporating experiential learning, with the aid of materials including dinghies with Universal design, safety boats, buoys, buoyancy aids, supplementing with a waterproof sailing booklet. The intervention is developed and facilitated by a registered nurse (principal investigator).

OTHER

Crafting activities

Participants in the attention control group will participate in crafting activities. Activities match the time and attention dedicated by the intervention group. Activities are designed to have no impact on resilience.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Sailability Hong Kong

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Chinese University of Hong Kong

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Myrian Sze Nga Fan, MSc · Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Professor William Ho Cheung Li, PhD · Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Professor Laurie Long Kwan Ho, PhD · Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Chair Sek Ying Professor Chair Sek Ying, PhD · Chinese University of Hong Kong

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-07-14

Primary Completion

2025-09-30

Completion

2025-10-10

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations