Date of Award
7-29-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Program
Clinical Psychology
First Advisor
Amy Van Hecke
Second Advisor
Alyson Gerdes
Third Advisor
Stephen Saunders
Abstract
One commonly requested area of support for autistic youth centers around teaching and maintaining social skills, as social communication differences are a core feature of autism spectrum disorder. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many healthcare services transitioned to telehealth, and some caregivers were concerned about if telehealth services were efficacious. There is a growing body of literature supporting the effectiveness of in-person social skills interventions, however research on telehealth administration of social skills intervention is more limited. This study aimed to evaluate if the telehealth version of PEERS for Adolescents has similar effects for autistic youth as the originally developed in-person format. Change in social, familial, and emotional-behavioral factors over the course of intervention and across delivery method was analyzed via adolescent- and parent-reported measures. Additional factors not previously addressed in the PEERS literature, including intolerance of uncertainty and perceived treatment acceptability, were explored within the context of the telehealth intervention. Aim 1 results indicated successful replication of positive improvements over the course of in-person and telehealth PEERS, including get-togethers, social skills knowledge and competency, social responsiveness, social problems, parent stress, and anxiety and depression symptoms; improvement in environmental stress/disorder was only observed in telehealth groups. Changes in social skills knowledge, social competency, social responsiveness, get-togethers, social problems, and withdrawn/depressive symptoms were deemed statistically equivalent across format of intervention. Aim 2 results suggested improvements in intolerance of uncertainty following telehealth PEERS. Aim 3 results revealed families found telehealth PEERS to be an acceptable intervention. Methods and results are discussed in detail. Overall, this study suggested that families will receive similar, if not equivalent, benefits from participating in either in-person or telehealth formats of PEERS for Adolescents. It is also important to highlight that families perceived the telehealth format of PEERS to be acceptable. These findings may encourage healthcare providers to expand access to evidence-based intervention by offering telehealth services to the wider autism community.