Enhancing Social Competence in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot RCT

项目摘要 自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的特征是社会能力的原发性损害。电流 对ASD成年人的心理社会干预是缺乏和迫切需要的。目前提案的目标是 是解决这一关键的，未满足的需求，为ASD成年人制定心理社会干预措施， 在ASD儿童和青少年中使用具有新兴疗效的创新干预措施。感 戏剧表演结合了既定的行为技术和戏剧策略， 中介，社区服务模式，有强有力的证据表明，显着改善社会能力。 一项针对ASD青年患者的随机对照试验（RCT）的最新结果显示， 以及目标参与假设的作用机制的证据，社会显著性（例如，存储器 面部），通过事件相关电位（ERP）和神经心理学测量进行评估，这些测量与 改善社会互动、社会沟通和适应功能。尽管先前的研究已经 有效，应用程序的目的是确定SENSE Theatre是否对患有以下疾病的成年人有效 ASD影响社会认知，这反过来又导致患有ASD的成年人的功能性临床结局发生变化。 自闭症该提案将针对现有的和新的心理社会干预措施制定并开展一项试点RCT 专为自闭症患者量身打造干预包括每周10次会议，每次会议3小时， 以及服装/技术彩排和两场公开演出。对当前SENSE Theatre的修改 该计划将包括：1）有受过训练的成年同龄人，2）更多适合年龄的戏剧主题， 个性化的独白（例如，社会关系，就业），以及3）个性化的性格 发展和绩效目标。该研究将招募40名患有高功能ASD 18至35的参与者 年龄30岁，随机分为实验组（EXP = 20）和候补对照组（WLC = 20）。拟议RCT 旨在：1）评估面孔记忆的目标参与，这是社交能力的基础技能，使用 神经影像学（ERP）和神经心理学测量，以及2）测试之间的联系程度的目标 面部记忆和功能结果的参与（例如，社交技能，以及与新同伴的社交互动）。 将在测试前、测试后和2个月随访时评估测量结果。该项目将有助于实现目标 为ASD成人提供信息，完善和最终确定SENSE剧院手册。如果预测的结果发生， 为社会心理干预提供强有力的经验支持，这种干预对以下方面具有普遍和持续的影响： 社交能力如果不加以治疗，对ASD成年患者会产生重大影响。

PROJECT SUMMARY Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by primary impairment in social competence. Current psychosocial interventions for adults with ASD are lacking and urgently needed. The goal of the current proposal is to address this critical, unmet need for the development of psychosocial interventions for adults with ASD by utilizing an innovative intervention with emerging efficacy in children and adolescents with ASD. SENSE Theatre combines established behavioral techniques alongside theatrical strategies delivered in a peer- mediated, community service model with strong evidence of significant improvement in social competence. Recent findings from a randomized control trial (RCT) in youth with ASD show immediate between-group effects and evidence of target engagement on the hypothesized mechanism of action, social salience (e.g., memory for faces), evaluated by event-related potentials (ERP) and neuropsychological measures, which were linked to improvement in social interaction, social communication and adaptive functioning. While previous research has been efficacious, the objective of the application is to determine if SENSE Theatre is effective for adults with ASD at impacting social cognition, which in turn results in changes in functional clinical outcomes for adults with ASD. The proposal will develop and conduct a pilot RCT on an existing and novel psychosocial intervention explicitly tailored for adults with ASD. The intervention consists of 10 weekly sessions, 3 hours per session as well as dress/technical rehearsal and two public performances. Modifications to the current SENSE Theatre program will include: 1) having trained adult peers, 2) more age-appropriate theatrical play themes and individualized monologues (e.g., social relationships, employment), and 3) individualized character development and performance goals. The study will enroll 40 participants with high-functioning ASD 18 to 35 years of age randomized to experimental (EXP = 20) and waitlist control (WLC = 20) groups. The proposed RCT aims to: 1) assess target engagement of memory for faces, a foundational skill for social competence, using neuroimaging (ERP) and neuropsychological measures, and 2) test the link between the degree of target engagement of face memory and functional outcomes (e.g., social skills, and social interaction with novel peers). Measures will be assessed at pretest, posttest, and 2-month follow-up. The project will help achieve the goal to inform, refine and finalize a SENSE Theatre manual for adults with ASD. If predicted results occur, it will provide strong empirical support for a psychosocial intervention that has generalized and maintained effects on social competence that left untreated has significant consequences for adults with ASD.