Koegel Autism Center, Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93117, USA.
Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, 1900 9th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 Oct;54(10):3639-3656. doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-06100-9. Epub 2023 Aug 16.
Many autistic adults report preference for computer-mediated communication and social media use. Despite many benefits to online socialization, there are many challenges including anxiety and cyber-victimization. To date, support is limited related to helping autistic adults with safe and effective internet use. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the novel SELFI program. This pilot study utilized a randomized controlled trial design. A total of 25 autistic adults enrolled in the study and were randomized to the nine-week SELFI program or a waitlist control condition. Feasibility assessed enrollment, attrition, and fidelity of delivery. Acceptability examined attendance and feedback from participants and peer mentors. Efficacy evaluated change in Facebook activity, social media utility/anxiety, and individualized goals. Regarding feasibility, the recruitment goal was met within one month, there was limited attrition, and therapists delivered the program with high fidelity. Participants attended a majority of scheduled sessions and feedback from participants reflected high levels of agreement with several facets of the program. Compared to the control group, more participants assigned to the SELFI condition were perceived by autistic and non-autistic raters as having improved Facebook activity. SELFI participants also reported reduced difficulty meeting their individualized goal. Findings support the piloted SELFI program as feasible and acceptable with signals of preliminary efficacy. This study establishes an exciting foundation regarding an innovative social media skills program, however more research is necessary.
许多自闭症患者表示更喜欢通过计算机中介交流和使用社交媒体。尽管在线社交有许多好处，但也存在许多挑战，包括焦虑和网络欺凌。迄今为止，针对帮助自闭症患者安全有效地使用互联网的支持非常有限。本研究旨在评估新颖的 SELFI 项目的可行性、可接受性和初步疗效。这项初步研究采用了随机对照试验设计。共有 25 名自闭症患者参加了这项研究，并被随机分配到为期九周的 SELFI 项目或候补名单对照组。可行性评估包括招募、人员流失和交付的保真度。可接受性研究考察了参与者和同行导师的出勤率和反馈。疗效评估了脸书活动、社交媒体实用性/焦虑和个性化目标的变化。在可行性方面，招募目标在一个月内完成，人员流失有限，治疗师以高度的保真度实施了该项目。大多数参与者都参加了预定的课程，并且参与者的反馈反映出他们对项目的几个方面高度认同。与对照组相比，更多被分配到 SELFI 条件的参与者被自闭症和非自闭症评估者认为脸书活动有所改善。SELFI 项目的参与者还报告称，他们实现个性化目标的难度降低了。研究结果表明，经过试点的 SELFI 项目具有可行性和可接受性，并且具有初步疗效的迹象。这项研究为社交媒体技能项目提供了一个令人兴奋的基础，但是还需要更多的研究。
