Working Together: Family Education and Support Intervention for Young Adults with ASD

Background:  Currently there is increasing interest in developing interventions to support positive outcomes across the lifespan for individuals with ASD. Given the current dearth of formal services for young adults with ASD, especially those without co-occurring intellectual disability, interventions are needed that increase a family’s capacity to find and create informal supports and activities in the community. Addressing this gap, we developed a multi-family group psychoeducation intervention, Working Together, designed for disengaged young adults with ASD and their families.

Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of Working Together, a multi-family group psychoeducation intervention for young adults with ASD, on (1) frequency of employment, (2) frequency of social interactions, and (3) supportive parental attitudes.

Methods: Data were drawn from the ongoing Working Together study. Young adults were eligible to participate if they coresided with their parents, had no intellectual disability, and had a medical/educational diagnosis of ASD confirmed by administration of the Social Communication Questionnaire. The present analysis focused on 17 adults and their parents who had completed data through 6-month follow up (40 families will be completed by IMFAR). After baseline assessment, families were randomized into an intervention (n=9) or waitlist control condition (n=8). The intervention included 2 individual family sessions, 8 weekly group sessions, 3 monthly group booster sessions, and ongoing resources and referrals. Although group sessions occurred separately for young adults and their parents, session topics were the same and included goal setting, problem-solving, coping strategies, planning for independence, and employment. Adults with ASD and their parents were assessed at baseline and at 6 month follow up on measures of employment, social interactions, and parental attitudes. Families also reported on satisfaction with the program.

Results: To test for differences between experimental and control groups at 6 month follow-up, we conducted a series of 2 (group) by 2 (time) repeated measures ANOVAs. Young adults in the intervention group showed improvements in frequency of working for pay based on both young adult and parent report compared to young adults in the control group (partial eta squared = .218 and .154 for parent- and young adult-report, respectively, representing medium effect sizes). Parents in the intervention group also showed more supportive attitudes about their young adult following the intervention compared to parents in the control group, partial eta squared = .263, reflecting a large effect size. There were no significant differences between groups over time for time spent with friends. Additionally, 100% of parents and adults with ASD were satisfied or very satisfied with the intervention program. Exit interview data suggested problem solving and independence were important areas of learning for the young adults.

Conclusions: The Working Together intervention was associated with increased paid employment for young adults with ASD as well as improved parental attitudes, suggesting benefits of family support for adult outcomes. Future research will examine the effectiveness of the Working Together model on quality of life and long-term employment and engagement in adults with ASD.