Resilience in Action™ : Assessing the behavioral target mechanisms of the RiA™ curriculum in young adults with autism

About This Grant

Project Summary/Abstract As young adults with autism spectrum disorder (YAASD) transition out of the academic supports provided by school, they can experience a degradation of social skills over time. This increases their risk of poor social, academic, vocational, and health outcomes. YAASD require continuous and ongoing skill development in order to maximize their potential; however, there are few services available to YAASD to develop and maintain their skills. While interventions exist in early childhood, mid-childhood, and adolescence, few programs have focused on improving resilience among YAASD. Resilience in ActionTM (RiA): Assessing the behavioral target mechanisms of the RiATM curriculum in young adults with autism, is a proposed research study that will be delivered in both community and academic settings to address the ‘adult world’ needs of YAASD who have exited out of secondary education. RiATM has been pilot-tested with YAASD and found to be highly acceptable (with 100% course completion and high course satisfaction), and contributed to YAASDs’ improved resiliency measured pre/post the course. In the proposed study, we will test the RiA curriculum developed in the San Francisco Bay Area, into 2 new sites (Boston, Massachusetts, and Baltimore, Maryland) – In Aim 1, we will conduct a randomized waitlist control trial with 288 YAASD (between 19-26 years of age) to examine the effectiveness of the RiA curriculum on resiliency targets (e.g. self- determination, self-efficacy, social confidence, emotional regulation). In Aim 2, we will examine whether resilience targets are associated with improvements in mental health and explore the impact on emotional regulation, vocational outcomes, and quality of life over a 12-month follow- up. Aim 3 will focus on studying the implementation of the RiA curriculum across the different sites using an expanded RE-AIM Framework. The proposed study would be the first to test resilience as a mechanism of action of the RiA curriculum for YAASD, and whether resiliency gained contributes to improved mental health and social outcomes in a multi-center trial of community-based partnerships across the US. This study will add to the science of how resiliency interventions can improve YAASD’s mental health, social, educational, and health- related outcomes.