A Meta-Analysis of Self-Management Interventions in Teaching Daily Living Skills to Autistic Individuals

Abstract

The current study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of self-management interventions for teaching daily living skills to autistic individuals. This study accessed the corresponding studies by doing a search in six databases. 14 articles and one dissertation met the inclusion criteria. The included studies were first analyzed descriptively and coded according to quality indicators using What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards. Second, the effect sizes of the included studies were calculated using two different effect size measures (i.e., Tau-U and performance-criteria-based effect size values [PCES]). Third, these analyses were also conducted for generalization and maintenance data. Of 15 studies included in this review, nine met the WWC standards with and without reservations. Tau-U analyses were conducted for 14 studies, whereas PCES values were calculated for only eight studies with mastery criteria. The findings indicated that the self-management interventions had a .93 CI95 (.80, 1) overall effect size for Tau-U with a very large effect. On the other hand, the overall effect size for the PCES values indicated a moderate effect with .99. The weighted effect sizes in generalization and maintenance phases were very large for Tau-U; however, moderate to high effects for PCES. Although self-management interventions showed diversity, one of the domains of daily living skills (i.e., community living skills) has not been studied in the field. Notably, among the studies in our review, the last ones are from 2019. Detailed findings from descriptive analyses and two different effect size calculations are discussed, and recommendations for future studies are given.