Cross-Cultural Adaptation to Australia of the KONTAKT© Social Skills Group Training Program for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Feasibility Study

Bahareh Afsharnejad; Marita Falkmer; Melissa H Black; Tasha Alach; Fabian Lenhard; Anna Fridell; Christina Coco; Kelly Milne; Nigel T M Chen; Sven Bölte; Sonya Girdler

doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04477-5

Cross-Cultural Adaptation to Australia of the KONTAKT© Social Skills Group Training Program for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Feasibility Study

J Autism Dev Disord. 2020 Dec;50(12):4297-4316. doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04477-5.

Authors

Bahareh Afsharnejad^{1

2}, Marita Falkmer^{1

2

3}, Melissa H Black^{1

2}, Tasha Alach⁴, Fabian Lenhard^{5

6}, Anna Fridell⁷, Christina Coco⁷, Kelly Milne⁴, Nigel T M Chen^{1

2}, Sven Bölte^{1

2

7

6}, Sonya Girdler^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
² Curtin Autism Research Group (CARG), Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
³ CHILD, Swedish Institute for Disability Research, School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden.
⁴ Autism Association of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁷ Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research, Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet & Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁸ School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia. Sonya.girdler@curtin.edu.au.
⁹ Curtin Autism Research Group (CARG), Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia. Sonya.girdler@curtin.edu.au.

PMID: 32270385
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04477-5

Abstract

This study investigated the feasibility and cultural validity of KONTAKT©, a manualised social skills group training, in improving the social functioning of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). KONTAKT© was delivered to 17 adolescents (m_age = 14.09, SD_age = 1.43; 70% male) with ASD over sixteen 90 min sessions. A pre-test post-test design evaluated changes in personally meaningful social goals, symptom severity, quality of life, interpersonal efficacy, social anxiety, loneliness, and facial emotion recognition at pre, post and 3 months follow-up. Focus groups were conducted post intervention. Findings indicate that KONTAKT© may support Australian adolescents with ASD in achieving their personally meaningful social goals. This study resulted in finalisation of KONTAKT© in preparation for evaluation of its efficacy in a randomised controlled trial (Australian New Zealand Clinical Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12617001117303, ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03294668).

Keywords: Adolescents; Autism spectrum disorder; Cross-cultural adaptation; Feasibility; KONTAKT©; Social skills group training; Social skills intervention.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Australia
Autism Spectrum Disorder / psychology*
Child
Cross-Cultural Comparison*
Feasibility Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Quality of Life
Social Adjustment
Social Skills

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT03294668