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

Laura Maria Fatta; Elizabeth A Laugeson; Dora Bianchi; Italian Peers® team support group; Fiorenzo Laghi; Maria Luisa Scattoni

doi:10.1007/s10803-023-06211-3

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

J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 Jan 8. doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-06211-3. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Laura Maria Fatta^{1

2}, Elizabeth A Laugeson³, Dora Bianchi²; Italian Peers® team support group; Fiorenzo Laghi⁴, Maria Luisa Scattoni¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Coordination and Support Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
² Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.
³ University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy. fiorenzo.laghi@uniroma1.it.

PMID: 38190054
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06211-3

Abstract

The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS^®) is an intervention targeting social skills for autistic adolescents and those with other social challenges. The efficacy of the PEERS^® on adolescents has been extensively explored but the program has not been validated in Italy. In the present study, we adapted PEERS^® to Italian culture and evaluated its efficacy in an Italian sample. A Randomized Controlled Trial was conducted, analyzing the results of 37 autistic adolescents who were randomly assigned to two groups: experimental group (TG) and waitlist group (WL). The primary outcomes (social abilities) and secondary outcomes (co-occurring conditions, executive functions) were assessed at four time points. No differences were found at pre-treatment between groups on baseline measures and primary outcomes. At post-treatment, significant group differences emerged in primary outcomes (social knowledge and social performance) and secondary outcomes (emotion regulation). The groups' results pooled together (TG + WL) confirmed the findings at post-treatment and showed further changes in primary outcomes (global social competence and social cognition) and secondary outcomes (externalizing problems, emotive and behavioral total problems, functional problems related to depressive symptoms). The improvements were maintained at a 3-month follow-up, except for global social competence and social cognition. Additionally, new results emerged regarding internalizing problems and global executive functioning. The efficacy of the Italian version of PEERS^® was ascertained on primary and secondary outcomes. Innovative findings on emotion regulation, behavioral problems, and depression symptoms also emerged.Clinical trial registration information Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS^®) for Italy. An RCT's Study on Social Skills Intervention for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). URL: http://clinicaltrials.gov . TRN: NCT05473104. Release Date: July 21, 2022.

Keywords: Adolescents; Autism spectrum disorder; International adaptation; PEERS®; Social skills training.

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT05473104

Grants and funding

ISS 5S13-6S02/Partial financial support, as reimbursement for attending symposia was provided by the collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Health - General Directorate of Health Prevention and General Directorate of Health Programming, "Fondo Autismo 2020-2022