Summary of the Systematic Review

Article Citation

Social Skills Groups for People Aged 6 to 21 With Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Reichow, B., Steiner, A. M., et al. (2012).
Campbell Systematic Reviews, 8(1), 1-76.
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Sponsoring Body

Associates of the Yale Child Study Center; Yale University School of Medicine

Article Quality Ratings

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Indicators of Review Quality

Yes The review states a clearly focused question/aim.
Yes Criteria for inclusion of studies are provided.
Yes Search strategy described in sufficient detail for replication.
Yes Included studies are assessed for study quality.
Yes Quality assessments are reproducible.
Yes Characteristics of the included studies are provided.

Article Details

Description

This is a review of randomized controlled trials of social skills groups for children and young adults aged 6 to 21 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Questions/Aims Addressed

The authors aimed to:

systematically review the evidence for the effectiveness of social skills groups for improving social competence, social communication, and quality of life in individuals with ASD,
identify the characteristics of the social skills training that are most effective, and
identify those subsample(s) of children with ASD for whom social skills groups are most successful.

Population

Children and young adults aged 6 to 21 with autism spectrum disorder

Intervention/Assessment

Social skills groups

Number of Studies Included

Years Included

Through December 2011

Conclusions from This Systematic Review

What are Conclusions?

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

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Treatment

"The results of this review provide some evidence that social skills groups may improve social competence (ES [effect size] = 0.47, p = 0.003) and friendship quality (ES = 0.41, p = 0.04) for this population" (p. 27). "No differences were found between treatment and control groups in relation to ... social communication as related to idioms (ES = 0.05, p = 0.89)" (p. 27). "The quality of evidence, as rated using the GRADE software, was low, suggesting further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate" (p. 28).

Keywords: Format, Social Communication, Social Skills Treatments/Groups