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Group-based educational interventions in adolescents and young adults with ASD without ID: a systematic review focusing on the transition to adulthood

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Abstract

There is a growing number of young people, diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder (ASD), transitioning to adulthood. Among this number, individuals without an intellectual disability have significant adaptive deficits and need individualized care and support services to better target vocational, social, and educational prospects and outcomes. Group-based interventions, including patient education, social-skills training, and cognitive–behavioral therapy, are widely used in clinical settings to improve the daily life and prospects of ASD individuals facing the challenge of transitioning to adulthood. We performed a systematic review of studies concerning the efficiency of group-based educational interventions with a focus on the transition to adulthood for young, ASD individuals without intellectual disability (ID). As a result of this systematic search, 21 studies out of 163 were found to be eligible for inclusion. We observed considerable heterogeneity across the studies, in terms of effect sizes and intervention design, delivery, and the comparison of controls. Strong evidence was found in favor of social-skills training and cognitive–behavioral therapy interventions. Professionals should consider group-based psychoeducational intervention to be an appropriate and relevant service for young subjects with ASD without ID transitioning to adulthood. Further research is needed on larger samples using multicentric designs to validate efficacy before generalization.

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Acknowledgements

The authors warmly thank Philippe Antoine for his assistance with the literature search.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Ressource Autisme Languedoc-Roussillon et Centre d’Excellence sur l’Autisme et les Troubles Neurodéveloppementaux, CHU Montpellier, 39 Avenue Charles Flahaut, 34295, Montpellier cedex 05, France

    Raphael Chancel, Stephanie Miot, Florine Dellapiazza & Amaria Baghdadli

  2. Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Raphael Chancel & Amaria Baghdadli

  3. Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, Inserm, CESP, Team DevPsy, 94807, Villejuif, France

    Stephanie Miot & Amaria Baghdadli

  4. Gerontology Centre, Antonin Balmès, University Hospital of Montpellier, CHU de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, 39 Avenue Charles Flahaut, 34295, Montpellier, France

    Stephanie Miot

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Chancel, R., Miot, S., Dellapiazza, F. et al. Group-based educational interventions in adolescents and young adults with ASD without ID: a systematic review focusing on the transition to adulthood. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 31, 1–21 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01609-1

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