A randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of the Dutch version of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®)

Abstract

Background This study examines the effectiveness of the culturally adapted Dutch version of The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®), utilizing a randomized control trial (RCT) with an active treatment control condition. Methods 106 adolescents with ASD, aged 12–18 years, were randomly assigned to one of two group interventions: the experimental condition (PEERS®; n = 54) or the active treatment control condition (Regulation, Organization and Autonomy Didactics; ROAD; n = 52). Effects of interventions on social skills were primarily assessed using an observational measure (CASS – Contextual Assessment Social Skills). Secondary indices of social skills were self, parent and teacher reported questionnaire data (i.e., Social Responsiveness Scale; SRS, and Social Skills Improvement System; SSIS). Treatment satisfaction was also obtained from adolescents and their parents. Results Results on the observational measure of social skills revealed improvements in positive affect, overall quality of rapport, as well as starting and ending a conversation, irrespective of condition. Compared to ROAD, PEERS® participants showed increased overall self-reported social skills (SSIS). Parent reports showed decreased overall social skill impairment (SRS) as well as improved social communication (SSIS subscale), with significantly more progress in the PEERS® group. Furthermore, parents of adolescents in the PEERS® group were significantly more satisfied with the intervention (M = 8.20, SD = 1.46) than parents of adolescents in the ROAD group (M = 7.52, SD = 1.45). The self-reported treatment satisfaction of adolescents did not differ between conditions. Teacher data showed decreased social skill impairment as measured with the SRS, irrespective of condition. Conclusions This study reveals promising indications that the Dutch version of PEERS® enhances social skills in adolescents with ASD. Yet, further research is needed into how effectiveness can be optimized. Trial registration Dutch trail register NTR6255 (NL6117) 08/02/2017 https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/6117

Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) for Italy: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Social Skills Intervention for Autistic Adolescents

“…PEERS ® is a structured international program that has been recently validated in different European countries (Idris et al, 2022;Płatos et al, 2022), as well as in telehealth or hybrid delivery (Adler et al, 2022;Estabillo et al, 2022;Płatos et al, 2022). To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first evidence of an Italian adaptation of manualized SST and the first of the PEERS ® program.…”

“…Initial cultural adaptations were conducted in South Korea (Yoo et al, 2014) and Canada (Marchica & D'Amico, 2016), followed by studies in East Asia (Shum et al, 2019;Yamada et al, 2020) and Israel (Rabin et al, 2018). In Europe, studies have been conducted with Netherlands (Idris et al, 2022) and Polish adaptations (Płatos et al, 2022). Recent evidence shows that PEERS ® efficacy in telemedicine is comparable to the in-person version (Adler et al, 2022;Estabillo et al, 2022;Płatos et al, 2022) indicating that the administration methods do not significantly influence treatment effects.…”

“…Consequently, teachers' reports of social functioning may not represent a valid assessment in the context of this study. Second, due to COVID-19 lockdowns, it was not possible to include direct observation measures despite this practice being suggested by systematic reviews (Mirzaei et al, 2020) and often used in other international PEERS ® adaptations (Idris et al, 2022;Rabin et al, 2018). Future research should also consider including observational tests administered by other staff members outside the treatment setting.…”

Peers, play, and performance to build social salience in autistic youth: A multisite randomized clinical trial.

“…Only the CASS-I was used in the analysis because past studies show the CASS-I condition yielded variables sensitive to treatment effects (Dolan et al, 2016; Rabin et al, 2018; White et al, 2015). Although all behavior domains were coded, a subset of domains was selected based on research showing significant treatment effects following a social skills program (Dolan et al, 2016; Idris et al, 2022) and content validity on a previous RCT for the EXP condition (Corbett et al, 2017).…”

The Effect of Social Support on Adolescent Mental Health: Literatur Review

“…In addition, peer support can also help overcome adolescent mental health problems. Parent reports indicate that there has been a decrease in adolescent mental health problems in the group of adolescents who were given intervention with peer mentoring (12). Peer education based on adolescent health education has effect on emotional adjustment (14).…”