Authors (including presenting author) :
Leung YY, Chan YH, Chan SM
Affiliation :
Occupational Therapy Department
Introduction :
Studies (Bauminger and Kasari, 2000; Orsmond et al., 2004) had demonstrated that people with ASD had difficulty in making friends and maintaining peer relationships. In a study by Symes and Humphrey (2010), students with ASD showed higher levels of peer rejection and lower levels of peer acceptance than their typically developing peers. Peer rejection and the absence of friendship were both associated with psychopathological symptoms in adulthood (Bagwell, Newcomb & Bukowski,1998). Repeatedly strained social interactions among young adults with ASD (YAA) influence both social and vocational outcomes, leading to high unemployment rate up to 45% (Howlin and Moss, 2012; Strickland et al., 2013; Shattuck et.al, 2012). The Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), which was originally developed in the United States, is one of the few evidence-based social skills training programs for YAA (Laugeson & Frankel, 2011). Zoom-PEERS-C (朋友幫-C) is a protocol-driven telecare program adapted from PEERS by OTD of KH during pandemic to improve conversational skills of YAA.
Objectives :
Zoom-PEERS-C (朋友幫-C) was developed to improve conversational skills and reduce anxiety in social interaction through equipping YAA with core component of relationship building.
Methodology :
A pilot program of Zoom-PEERS-C was conducted in psychiatric outpatient unit of OTD in KH for patients with diagnosis of ASD in 2020. Inclusion criteria included the age range from 18 to 25, normal intelligence and experiencing social challenges in conversational skills.
Original 16 sessions of PEERS were adapted and separated into 4 independent electives focusing on different components of relationship building, including PEERS-C (朋友幫-C) for training conversational skills (8 sessions), PEERS-D (朋友幫-D) for dating etiquette (6 sessions), PEERS-C&B (朋友幫-C&B) for handling conflicts & bullying (6 sessions) and PEERS-G (朋友幫-G) for organizing gathering (4 sessions). PEERS-C (朋友幫-C) was selected and conducted as the pilot program of OTD in KH to improve social functioning of YAA as conversation skills was the core component of relationship building. More role-play practicing time and individual feedback were integrated in each session. Specific features of PEERS including Socratic method of teaching and social coaching were preserved. The pilot program of PEERS-C was delivered in Zoom mode so as to provide an alternative group intervention program during COVID-19 pandemic.
Test of Adolescent Social Skills Knowledge (TASSK), Quality of Play Questionnaire for adolescents and parents (QPQ-A and QPQ-P), and satisfaction survey were used as the outcome measure of this pilot program.
Result & Outcome :
4 subjects were recruited into the pilot program from September to November 2020. All of them were students with average age of 19. Three of them were male and only one subject was female. It was found that improvement of knowledge in social skills was demonstrated with average score of TASSK increasing from 17.25 to 20.75 out of the total score of 26. Less conflict during the last get-together was also indicated with decreasing average conflict score in both QPQ-A and QPQ-P. According to the satisfaction survey, 3 subjects reported improvement in conversational skills, reduction in anxiety during social interaction and increased awareness of possible improvement areas in communication.
Our findings demonstrated preliminary evidence that Zoom-PEERS-C is effective in improving social functioning of YAA in areas of improved conversational skills, less occurrence of conflict and reduced social anxiety. Implementation of Zoom-PEERS in different electives based on patient’s need will be continued for future further study with larger sample size. Protocol-driven telecare program also demonstrated a good alternative treatment to face-to-face group treatment on social skills training during COVID-19 pandemic.
