Enhancing Motivation to Complete Daily Living Skills Among Transition-aged Autistic Youth
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to enhance motivation to complete daily living skills among 16 to 25-year-old autistic teens and young adults. Here are the main questions the trial aims to answer: Can this trial improve motivation to complete daily living skills for skills that people know how to do but struggle to do them consistently? Can this trial improve completion of the daily living skill that the participant identifies they want to do more often? Do people report feeling more empowered to complete the daily living skill they want to do more often? Are there any characteristics of a person that make them more or less likely to benefit from the treatment? Researchers will compare treatments that target different types of motivation: * One treatment focuses on internal motivation and explores what is important to someone and then connect that value back to their daily living skill goal. * A second treatment focuses on external motivation and will explore a person finding outside sources of motivation, like rewards. * A third treatment will use a combination of both methods. Autistic teens and young adults enrolled in this study will also be asked to choose someone in their life to be involved in the study with them. This person is called an "Important Person" (IP) and can be anyone close to them, like a family member, friend, roommate, partner, etc. The IP will be expected to support the teen/young adult throughout this treatment. Participants and their IPs will: * Complete five 'talk' therapy sessions that will last 60 to 90 minutes. The IPs will join the last 15 minutes of each session) * Be assigned to one of the three motivation treatments * Fill out questionnaires before the first session, after sessions 2 through 5, and 2 weeks after therapy ends
Description
Many autistic teens and young adults often have a hard time doing the everyday skills they need to live on their own. These daily living skills (DLS) include things like taking care of themselves (like showering and getting dressed), doing chores at home (like cooking and cleaning), and handling things in the community (like saving money). Even if someone is able to do these skills, they might still struggle to do them. This shows that being able and knowing how to do these skills isn't the only important part-other things can make it hard to do daily tasks, like motivation. Early research sh…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 16–25 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria for Autistic Teens and Young Adults: * Age 16-25 years * Participants reporting an autism diagnosis from a qualified provider (Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Developmental Pediatrician, Neurologist). When possible, diagnosis will be confirmed through the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Electronic Health Record (EHR). * Must identify an important person who is able to communicate by understanding and speaking full sentences in English * Ability to communicate by understanding and using full sentences in English * Informed Consent * Be willing to have sessions audio-…
Interventions
- BehavioralIntrinsic Motivation Treatment
The Intrinsic Motivation treatment utilizes principles of Motivational Interviewing to help autistic young adults increase their desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.
- BehavioralExtrinsic Motivation Treatment
The Extrinsic Motivation treatment utilizes behavioral principles to help autistic adolescents and young adults create reward schedules and behavioral tracking sheets to enhance desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.
- BehavioralCombined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Treatment
The Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation treatment combines elements of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation treatments to enhance desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60-90 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.
Location
- CHOP Center for Advanced Behavioral HealthcarePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania