| Abstract |
Autistic youth experience disproportionately high rates of child maltreatment and a wide range of other traumatic and stressful events, such as peer victimization. Very little empirical work has evaluated trauma-focused supports for Autistic youth, despite high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related symptoms. The current study is a pilot proof-of-concept evaluation of telehealth-based trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) for Autistic youth (N = 17, ages 10-17) and their caregivers. Youth PTSD symptoms significantly declined from the beginning to end of the program across youth self-report, caregiver report, and clinician interview, and effects were maintained at the 1-month follow-up with large effect sizes. Youth self-reported significant declines in anxiety. Caregivers reported significant improvements in all co-occurring youth mental health symptoms and some caregiver-level outcomes. Youth and caregivers rated the program and telehealth delivery favorably overall. Future larger-scale randomized evaluations of TF-CBT for Autistic youth are needed. |
| Authors |
Christina G. McDonnell   , Theresa Andrzejewski , Saily Gomez Batista , Elizabeth A. DeLucia , Janey Dike , Kaitlyn E. Breitenfeldt , Alison U. Tassone
|
| Journal Info |
SAGE Publishing | Child Maltreatment
|
| Publication Date |
3/1/2025 |
| ISSN |
1077-5595 |
Type |
article |
| Open Access |
closed
|
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595251323215 |
| Keywords |
Telehealth (Score: 0.78623646)
|
