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Enhancing Conflict Negotiation Strategies of Adolescents with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders through Technology Supported Collaboration
Objectives: To examine the effectiveness of a 6 week intervention program in which "CONTACT" was used to enhance the negotiation strategies of adolescents with HFASD by means of collaboration during meaningful situations of conflict.
Methods: Adolescents with HFASD, aged 12-18 years, were randomly divided into an intervention group consisting of 18 pairs of participants, and a control group consisting of 25 participants who did not receive any intervention. All participants completed two conflict questionnaires which measure adolescent conflict resolution styles: CONFLICTALK and the Five Factor Negotiation Scale (FFNS). Both within group (pretest versus posttest versus one month follow-up) and between groups responses were compared. The intervention consisted of six 60-minute sessions given over a period of 6 weeks and divided into an experience phase and a learning phase. During each session two conflict scenarios were viewed by pairs of participants according to an ascending order of conflicts of increasing social and emotional complexity. When needed, the moderator used verbal prompts or software application support to scaffold the intervention. During the experience phase, the participants used video self modeling to role play their own responses. These were recorded for the purpose of self reflection to practice and internalize adaptive negotiation strategies. During the learning phase, they were asked to choose a confrontational, submissive, or compromise-oriented response to the presented conflicts.
Results: The results for the FFNS showed that there was a significant improvement in Communication for the intervention group in comparison to the control group between pre-test and post-test, F(1, 59) = 7.77, p = .007, which was maintained at follow-up, F(1, 59) = .00, p > .05. In addition, the intervention group reported greater negotiation skills at post-test, F(1,59) = 7.91, p = .007, than the control group, which was maintained at follow-up, F(1, 59) = .00, p > .05. The results for the ConflicTalk questionnaire showed that there was a significant improvement in Problem Focus for the intervention group in comparison to the control group between pre-test and post-test, F(1, 59) = 7.24, p ≤ .001, which was maintained at follow-up, F(1,59)= .29, p> .05.
Conclusions: A technology-based interactive platform that is grounded in constructivist learning theory appears to be an effective tool for enhancing conflict negotiation strategies of adolescents with HFASD in situations of social conflict.