Evaluating the Effectiveness of a School-Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Intervention for Anxiety in Adolescents Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Sarah Luxford, Julie A Hadwin, Hanna Kovshoff
PMID 27440250WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with ASD who received school-based CBT with teaching-assistant support and home projects showed greater reductions in parent, self and teacher-reported anxiety than wait-list controls.
Teachers reported less social worry, but self-reported social worry did not differ.
Key findings
01Compared with wait-list controls, the intervention group, which received CBT, teaching-assistant support and home projects, showed significantly greater change over time in parent-reported, self-reported and teacher-reported anxiety.
02The intervention group showed significant reductions in anxiety from pre-intervention to post-intervention and follow-up, while the wait-list control group showed no significant within-group changes.
03Teacher-reported social worry decreased significantly for the intervention group over time, but self-reported social worry did not show a significant difference in change over time between groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 35 pupils were included, and all had IQ scores of 70 or higher, so it says little about pupils with intellectual disability or more severe needs. The intervention group had higher baseline parent-reported and teacher-reported anxiety than controls, and analyses adjusted for this. Parent questionnaires were missing for 3 intervention pupils and 7 control pupils at follow-up, so parent results use fewer pupils. There was no active control, researchers and raters were not blinded, and treatment integrity was not measured. Follow-up was only 6 weeks, so longer-term durability is unknown.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the intervention improves social responsiveness or attention. Parent-reported social responsiveness did not show a significant difference in change over time between groups, and attentional control did not show a significant change over time or difference in change over time between groups.