Trial Outcomes & Findings for Improving Social Interaction for Adolescents With Autism During the Transition to Adulthood (NCT NCT03785327)

Last Updated: 2022-12-23

Results Overview

Non-autistic participants social interest in autistic partners as measured by the First Impression Scale (Sasson et al., 2017). Four items, each scored on a Likert Scale from 1 to 4 in which higher values indicate greater social interest, are averaged to produce a social interest composite that serves as the primary outcome measure of the non-autistic participant's social interest in their autistic conversation partner.

Recruitment status

TERMINATED

Study phase

Target enrollment

78 participants

Primary outcome timeframe

Interaction with unfamiliar partner occurs immediately following the autism training; self-report measure given immediately after the interaction, duration of completion averages around 2 minutes

Results posted on

2022-12-23

Participant Flow

Participant milestones

Participant milestones
Measure	Autism Training Program Training program designed to increase autism understanding followed by behavioral testing Intervention:Training program Autism Training: Autism Information Presentation developed by Dr. Grace Iarocci's Autism \& Developmental Disorders Lab at Simon Fraser University	Social Interaction Without Intervention Control condition: Behavioral testing without an intervention component
Overall Study STARTED	38	40
Overall Study COMPLETED	38	40
Overall Study NOT COMPLETED	0	0

Reasons for withdrawal

Withdrawal data not reported

Baseline Characteristics

Improving Social Interaction for Adolescents With Autism During the Transition to Adulthood

Baseline characteristics by cohort

Baseline characteristics by cohort
Measure	Active Anodal tDCS Active anodal tDCS followed by behavioral testing Intervention: Device: active anodal tDCS tDCS: Participants either complete active and sham tDCS sessions one week apart or an autism training program.	Sham tDCS Sham tDCS followed by behavioral testing Intervention: Device: sham tDCS tDCS: Participants either complete active and sham tDCS sessions one week apart or an autism training program.	Autism Training Program n=38 Participants Training program designed to increase autism understanding followed by behavioral testing Intervention:Training program Autism Training: Autism Information Presentation developed by Dr. Grace Iarocci's Autism \& Developmental Disorders Lab at Simon Fraser University	Social Interaction Without Intervention n=40 Participants Control condition: Behavioral testing without an intervention component	Total n=78 Participants Total of all reporting groups
Age, Continuous	—	—	20.26 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.79 • n=5 Participants	20.63 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.75 • n=4 Participants	20.45 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.77 • n=21 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Female	—	—	0 Participants n=5 Participants	0 Participants n=4 Participants	0 Participants n=21 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Male	—	—	38 Participants n=5 Participants	40 Participants n=4 Participants	78 Participants n=21 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Hispanic or Latino	—	—	2 Participants n=5 Participants	8 Participants n=4 Participants	10 Participants n=21 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Not Hispanic or Latino	—	—	36 Participants n=5 Participants	32 Participants n=4 Participants	68 Participants n=21 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB) Unknown or Not Reported	—	—	0 Participants n=5 Participants	0 Participants n=4 Participants	0 Participants n=21 Participants
Region of Enrollment United States	—	—	38 participants n=5 Participants	40 participants n=4 Participants	78 participants n=21 Participants

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: Interaction with unfamiliar partner occurs immediately following the autism training; self-report measure given immediately after the interaction, duration of completion averages around 2 minutes

Population: Zero participants are listed for the Active and Sham tDCS arms because these arms were terminated before data collection began.

Outcome measures

Outcome measures
Measure	Active Anodal tDCS Active anodal tDCS followed by behavioral testing Intervention: Device: active anodal tDCS tDCS: Participants either complete active and sham tDCS sessions one week apart or an autism training program.	Sham tDCS Sham tDCS followed by behavioral testing Intervention: Device: sham tDCS tDCS: Participants either complete active and sham tDCS sessions one week apart or an autism training program.	Autism Training Program n=38 Participants Training program designed to increase autism understanding followed by behavioral testing Intervention:Training program Autism Training: Autism Information Presentation developed by Dr. Grace Iarocci's Autism \& Developmental Disorders Lab at Simon Fraser University	Social Interaction Without Intervention n=40 Participants Control condition: Behavioral testing without an intervention component
Subjective Social Interaction Quality	—	—	2.74 units on a scale Standard Deviation 0.45	2.45 units on a scale Standard Deviation 0.61

Adverse Events

Active Anodal tDCS

Serious events: 0 serious events

Other events: 0 other events

Deaths: 0 deaths

Sham tDCS

Serious events: 0 serious events

Other events: 0 other events

Deaths: 0 deaths

Autism Training Program

Serious events: 0 serious events

Other events: 0 other events

Deaths: 0 deaths

Social Interaction Without Intervention

Serious events: 0 serious events

Other events: 0 other events

Deaths: 0 deaths

Serious adverse events

Adverse event data not reported

Other adverse events

Adverse event data not reported

Additional Information

Dr. Noah Sasson

The University of Texas at Dallas

Phone: 972-883-2541

Email: [email protected]

Results disclosure agreements

Principal investigator is a sponsor employee
Publication restrictions are in place