Pilot Trial of a Social Skills Group Treatment (Secret Agent Society Program)

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

In brief

Several independent evaluations have supported the effectiveness of the Secret Agent Society (SAS) Program in improving the social-emotional functioning of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in clinic- (Beaumont \& Sofronoff, 2008; Tan, Mazzucchelli \& Beaumont, submitted), school-(Beaumont, Rotolone \& Sofronoff, in press; Einfeld et al., submitted) and remote Skype/telephone-assisted delivery contexts (Sofronoff, Silva \& Beaumont, in press).The present study aims to extend on the above literature by conducting a 6-month randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness, utility and acceptability (including cultural acceptability) of the Secret Agent Society (SAS) social-emotional skills training program. Specifically, the study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the SAS Program for 8-12 year-old children with social difficulties in the context of a range of diagnosed mental health conditions and/or developmental disorders, including anxiety disorders, ADHD, and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02574273

Run by

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

People needed

106

Starts

2015-10-01

Expected to finish

2018-12-01

Last updated by the study team

2019-07-30

Who can join

Age: 8 and older, up to 12. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Children are required to be aged between 8 and 12 years at the time of study entry.
• Children must have a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder and whose parents report that they experience social difficulties/are socially excluded by peers. Participants are not eligible to participate in the study if they do not meet any of the listed diagnoses.
• Children must have an IQ of 85 or above (as formally assessed within the past 2 years, or as assessed at the time of study entry by WIAT III Verbal Subtest).
• Children are required to have significant social difficulties as reported by their parents and/or teacher (although they are not required to score within the clinical range on the Spence Social Skills Questionnaire to be included in the study).
• Children and parents must be fluent in English (preferably their first language).

You may not qualify if…

• Failure to meet one or more of the Inclusion Criteria listed above.
• Parents indicate at intake that they are unwilling or unable to attend the parent training sessions and to support their child in completing between-session skills practice tasks ('home missions').
• Children who present with extreme levels of anxiety and anger (as determined from intake interviews and questionnaires), and as such, group therapy would be contraindicated at that time (would cause extreme distress to a child and/or s/he would be a physical safety risk to other child group members).

Where it is running

• Weill Cornell Medical College — New York, New York, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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