Cross-Cultural Adaptation to Australia of the KONTAKT© Social Skills Group Training Program for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Feasibility Study

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2020-12, Vol.50 (12), p.4297-4316
• Main Authors: Afsharnejad, Bahareh, Falkmer, Marita, Black, Melissa H., Alach, Tasha, Lenhard, Fabian, Fridell, Anna, Coco, Christina, Milne, Kelly, Chen, Nigel T. M., Bölte, Sven, Girdler, Sonya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Anxiety; Australia; Autism; Autism spectrum disorder; Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology; Autistic adolescents; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child; Child and School Psychology; Cross-cultural adaptation; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Efficacy; Emotion recognition; Emotional Response; Feasibility; Feasibility Studies; Female; Foreign Countries; Goal Orientation; Group Activities; Humans; Interpersonal Competence; KONTAKT; Loneliness; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Neurosciences; Nonverbal Communication; Original Paper; Pattern recognition; Pediatrics; Program Effectiveness; Psychological Patterns; Psychology; Public Health; Quality of Life; Severity (of Disability); Skill Development; Social Adjustment; Social anxiety; Social aspects; Social Behavior; Social Development; Social education; Social functioning; Social goals; Social Skills; Social skills group training; Social skills intervention; Socialization; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Teenagers; Training; Youth
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04477-5

This study investigated the feasibility and cultural validity of KONTAKT©, a manualised social skills group training, in improving the social functioning of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). KONTAKT© was delivered to 17 adolescents (m age  = 14.09, SD age  = 1.43; 70% male) with ASD over sixteen 90 min sessions. A pre-test post-test design evaluated changes in personally meaningful social goals, symptom severity, quality of life, interpersonal efficacy, social anxiety, loneliness, and facial emotion recognition at pre, post and 3 months follow-up. Focus groups were conducted post intervention. Findings indicate that KONTAKT© may support Australian adolescents with ASD in achieving their personally meaningful social goals. This study resulted in finalisation of KONTAKT© in preparation for evaluation of its efficacy in a randomised controlled trial (Australian New Zealand Clinical Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12617001117303, ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03294668).