Autism interventions designed or adapted for the Black/African American population: A systematic review.

The evidence base itself is thin: eight studies, generally small samples, none randomised, and mostly caregivers of children rather than autistic people themselves. Almost no work focuses on Black autistic young people or adults, and the studies most likely did not include Black autistic people on their own research teams. Every intervention reviewed was delivered by people; technology-based approaches were not included. The reviewers could not obtain the intervention manuals, so they could not fully judge what content each programme covered, and they did not look at how large the effects were. The authors note that the Black community in the United States is diverse, including families from Africa and the Caribbean whose cultures and beliefs may not be reflected in these adaptations, and that similar work is needed outside the United States.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship or publication of the article. No funding statement appears in the supplied text.

Do not read this review as proof that culturally adapted autism interventions work better. Its eight included studies were small, none were randomised, the three studies tested with Black families gave mixed results, and the reviewers did not extract effect sizes or compare adapted with unadapted versions of the same intervention. The authors themselves state that none of these interventions has been tested enough to be called evidence-based.