Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Conditions
Keywords
Launching intervention
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Launching intervention (Pagan et al., 2024) in improving adaptive functioning, transition readiness, and social cognition in young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), compared to a delayed treatment control group, to examine whether the Launching intervention leads to improvements in executive functioning, co-occurring mental health symptoms, and quality of life, as measured by caregiver and self-report assessments, to assess the maintenance of treatment gains 12 weeks post-treatment and to replicate the findings of the Launching pilot study in an independent sample of young adults with ASD.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALLaunching! to adulthood group therapy
Participants will be in a 12-week therapy program that includes weekly group sessions and individual coaching.
BEHAVIORALstandard of care
Participants will receive a list of resources
Sponsors
The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 25 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* confirmed case of ASD from a licensed mental health or medical professional * score of \>14 on the Social Communication Questionnaire-Lifetime (SCQ-L) completed with the mother or father * meet DSM-5 criteria for ASD based on a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) ASD symptom checklist * willing and motivated to participate in the treatment * a parent willing to participate * verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) score \>70 as assessed by the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test 2nd edition revised (KBIT-2-R)
Exclusion criteria
* history of a psychotic disorder or current psychotic symptoms * suicidal ideation with intent or plan * current alcohol or other substance use disorder rated severe * concurrent enrollment in another clinical trial for autism spectrum disorder * expression of unwillingness to complete study procedures
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in adaptive functioning as assessed by the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition (ABAS-3) | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 239 item questionnaire and each is scored from 0(is not able to do this behavior) to 3 \[(always able to do this behavior)(or almost always)\] a higher number indicating better outcome |
| Change in social response as assessed by the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2) | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 65 item questionnaire and each is scored on a 4-point Likert scale from 1(Not True) to 4(Almost Always True) for a maximum raw score of 120, higher score indicating worse outcome. |
| Change in transition readiness as assessed by the Transition Readiness Scale (TRS)-child version | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 30 item questionnaire and each is scored from 1(not true for me ) to 4(true for me) for a maximum score of 120, higher score indicating better outcome. |
| Change in transition readiness as assessed by the Transition Readiness Scale (TRS)-parent version | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 30 item questionnaire and each is scored from 1(not true for them) to 4(true for them) for a maximum score of 120, higher score indicating better outcome. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in quality of life as assessed by the Autism Spectrum Quality of Life (ASQoL) questionnaire | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 9 item questionnaire. Each is scored on a 4-point Likert scale from 1(not at all) to 5(totally) ,questions 6,7 and 8 are reverse scored for a maximum score range of 9-36 and higher score indicating better quality of life |
| Change in executive functioning as assessed by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition (BRIEF-2) | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 75 item questionnaire and each is scored from 1(never) to 3(often) for a maximum score of 225, higher number indicating worse outcome |
| Change in parental stress as assessed by the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 14 item questionnaire and each item is scored from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) for a score range of 18-90, higher score indicating more stress |
| Change in depression as assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depressive symptoms | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 9 item questionnaire and each is scored from 0(not at all) to 3(nearly every day) for a maximum score of 27, higher number indicating worse outcome |
| Change in anxiety as assessed by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) for anxiety symptoms | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 7 item questionnaire and each is scored from 0(not at all) to 4(nearly every day) for a maximum score of 21 , higher score indicating more anxiety |
| Change in quality of life as assessed by the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) | Baseline, week 12, week 24 | This is a 26 item questionnaire ,with 4 domains. Each is scored from 1(very poor) to 5(very good) ,questions 3,4 and 26 are reverse scored for a maximum raw score of 120 and higher score indicating better quality of life |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactAntonio Pagan, PhD
Backup ContactKatherine Loveland, PhD
Outcome results
None listed