Efficacy of PEERS® for Adolescents via Telehealth Delivery.
Jasper A Estabillo, Christine T Moody, Solene J Poulhazan and 3 others
PMID 35624224WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with autism who did PEERS® for Adolescents online improved social skills, conversation knowledge, and reported more peer get-togethers.
Their changes matched in-person PEERS® on most outcomes, so online delivery can support friendship skills.
Key findings
01Adolescents who completed PEERS® for Adolescents via telehealth showed improvements on social skills knowledge, autism-related social difficulty, general social skills, problem behaviors, and get-togethers.
02The telehealth group's change from baseline to post-intervention was similar to the in-person group's change on most outcomes, except parent-reported total get-togethers.
03Telehealth adolescents improved social skills knowledge from 13.45 at baseline to 24.35 after treatment, an average increase of 11 points.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The telehealth and in-person groups were not randomly assigned, and telehealth families chose the virtual format. Analyses included only participants with both baseline and post-intervention data, so dropouts and incomplete measures were not examined. Outcome reports came from adolescents and parents who took part in the intervention, so responses may be biased. Diagnosis was based on historical ASD diagnosis or elevated SRS-2 scores, not a comprehensive diagnostic assessment. Telehealth required reliable internet and devices, which may limit access for some families. The telehealth program added in-group online get-togethers, so parent-reported increases in get-togethers may not reflect new friendships outside the program. No long-term follow-up was reported, so durability after telehealth delivery is unknown.
Declared interests
No funding or conflict of interest statement is included in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that telehealth PEERS® caused more peer get-togethers than in-person PEERS®. The telehealth groups added in-group online get-togethers during the program, and the authors say this may have inflated the get-together counts.