Examining the effect of a wearable, anxiety detection technology on improving the awareness of anxiety signs in autism spectrum disorder: a pilot randomized controlled trial.
Jenny Nguyen, Robyn E Cardy, Evdokia Anagnostou and 2 others
PMID 34775994WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism wearing a heart-rate monitor that showed their anxiety level on a tablet were more likely to start deep breathing during a stressful speech task.
All 14 in the feedback group used breathing, compared to 4 of 12 controls.
Key findings
01The primary outcome, initiating diaphragmatic breathing during a stress task, was significantly higher in the group receiving real-time anxiety feedback (14/14) compared to the control group (4/12).
02Most participants in the feedback group (11/14) reported that the device's alerts reminded them to use their breathing technique.
03While the feedback group had a reduced increase in heart rate compared to controls, this physiological difference was not statistically significant in the main analysis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was small (26 participants analyzed), making the study underpowered to detect differences in physiological outcomes. The intervention was brief (two minutes) and conducted in a controlled laboratory setting, which limits generalizability to daily life or longer-term therapy. Groups were imbalanced at baseline, with the treatment group having higher IQ scores and a different sex distribution than the control group. The public speaking task may not elicit the same level of social evaluative threat in children with autism as it does in neurotypical peers, potentially affecting the validity of the stress model.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Ontario Brain Institute. The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the device improved physiological anxiety control. The study found no significant difference in heart rate or breathing patterns between the groups; the benefit was limited to the behavioral outcome of initiating the breathing technique.