Emotion Regulation Intensive Outpatient Programming: Development, Feasibility, and Acceptability

Abstract

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or intellectual and developmental disabilities (DD) often struggle with behavior management and emotion-regulation (ER). In this manuscript, we describe the results of a chart review examining a group treatment program designed to address ER deficits in youth with ASD and/or DD. The intensive 5 week program utilizes cognitive behavior, applied behavior analysis, and mindfulness techniques and includes biweekly child and parent groups. Results indicate that this program is feasible and associated with high caregiver satisfaction. Pre-and-post outcome results indicate statistically significant improvement on behavioral measures, but did not demonstrate significant improvment on the Pediatric Quality of Life Family Impact Module. Based on overall positive outcomes, a randomized controlled trial of the program is indicated.

Brief Report: Feasibility of the Probabilistic Reversal Learning Task as an Outcome Measure in an Intervention Trial for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Briefly, RT is a 10-session, 5-week group-based ER intervention for individuals with ASD, with nearly identical curricula for child (8-12 years) and adolescent age groups (13-18 years). RT targets ER by utilizing multiple evidence-based intervention strategies from applied behavior analysis, cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness and acceptance, and dialectical behavior therapy (Shaffer, Under review; Shaffer et al, 2019). Caregivers participate in a concurrent group to learn the same material, general behavioral management, and coaching strategies to help reinforce new skills in their children.…”

“…While the intervention targets ER, we included specific curricula focused on enhancing cognitive flexibility by building vocabulary around flexibility, increasing awareness of one's own inflexibility, and applying specific problem solving strategies to increase flexibility via group exercises and games, individual practice and repetition, and homework to rehearse and practice skills. Full details of the development of RT and its curriculum are available elsewhere (Shaffer et al, 2019). Our pilot intervention study included five study visits: Screen, Baseline/ Treatment Start, Treatment End, Treatment Follow-Up 1 (5-week follow-up), and Treatment Follow-Up 2 (10-week follow-up) in which individuals with ASD and their primary caregiver completed a battery of outcome measures.…”

“…However, this is the first time, to our knowledge, that PRL has been used as an outcome measure in a behavioral intervention trial for individuals with ASD. This Brief Report examines the feasibility of PRL as outcome measure following a pilot trial of Regulating Together (RT), a group based behavioral intervention targeting ER in individuals with ASD aged 8-18 years (Shaffer, Under review;Shaffer et al, 2019). We hypothesized that PRL would be highly feasible and acceptable to individuals with ASD.…”

Perceived helpfulness of depression treatments among young adults with autism

“…While previous studies have included subjective measures such as "usefulness" or satisfaction to examine social validity and feasibility of treatments from the perspectives of adolescents with ASD and their parents (Conner et al, 2019;de Bruin et al, 2015;Shaffer et al, 2019), only one study to our knowledge has specifically examined perceptions of medication treatment among adults with ASD (Coleman et al, 2019), and no study to date has evaluated perceived helpfulness of depression treatment in this group. Given that adults with ASD are at elevated risk of mental health problems and often experience difficulties accessing services (Hollocks et al, 2019;Joshi et al, 2013;Shattuck et al, 2011Shattuck et al, , 2012, evaluating perceived helpfulness from their perspectives could offer new insights about the effectiveness and acceptability of community depression treatments.…”

Feasibility, Acceptability and Preliminary Efficacy of Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Autistic Adults without Intellectual Disability: A Mixed Methods Study

“…In autistic youth, preliminary evidence suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based interventions might be effective for decreasing ED (e.g. Thomson et al, 2015 ; Weiss et al, 2018 ; Conner et al, 2019 ; Factor et al, 2019 ; Shaffer et al, 2019 ). However, to our knowledge, only two studies have focused on the treatment of ED in autistic adults.…”