Adolescent anxiety is prevalent, yet process-based interventions remain under-evaluated in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This study examined whether the discoverer–noticer–advisor–values (DNA-V) model, a youth-focused adaptation of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), reduced anxiety and psychological inflexibility and promoted values-based behaviors in adolescents. Three youth receiving outpatient services in an LAC setting participated in a randomized, nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design. The intervention comprised eight sessions; daily self-monitoring entries for anxiety intensity and idiographic values-based behaviors were collected across baseline, intervention, and follow-up. Psychological inflexibility and anxiety symptoms were assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up using the AFQ-Y and DASS-21, respectively. Anxiety and psychological inflexibility decreased across participants, whereas values-based behaviors showed heterogeneous trajectories, including transient gains for some individuals. Social validity ratings and open-ended feedback indicated high satisfaction and perceived usefulness. Findings provide preliminary support for DNA-V with LAC adolescents and suggest that booster strategies may strengthen maintenance, warranting future pragmatic trials with longer follow-up.
The increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States has elevated the need for inclusive and representative intervention research. However, attrition within research initiatives that include autistic individuals who engage in challenging behavior remains understudied. This study examined predictors of study completion across three levels of engagement: consent only (full attrition), treatment only (partial attrition), and full study completion (no attrition). Participants included 182 caregiver-child dyads enrolled in a multi-component study involving a behavior-analytic treatment and a severity tool research portion. Using retrospective data and ordinal logistic regression, we explored whether participant challenging behavior topographies, demographics, and parental stress predicted study completion type. Results indicated that child elopement and higher parental stress scores marginally predicted full study completion after a Bonferroni adjustment, while demographic variables were not significant predictors. These findings may suggest that caregiver urgency regarding specific challenging behaviors and higher perceived stress may increase research engagement. Routine examination of attrition patterns within multi-component intervention studies may support more equitable and representative participation in autism treatment research.
This study examined the preliminary efficacy of HARU ASD, a mobile-based cognitive behavioral therapy program (mCBT), for anger management in adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability. Thirty participants (intervention group n = 16, waitlist control group n = 14) and twenty-five caregivers (intervention group n = 14, waitlist control group n = 11) were included in the final analysis. Self-report, caregiver-proxy questionnaires (9 subscales each), and direct behavioral observations (5 domains) were administered before and after the intervention. After Holm–Bonferroni correction, only the caregiver-proxy reported direct anger-out remained significant, suggesting reduced direct verbal and behavioral anger expression in the intervention group. These findings suggest the limited effectiveness of the HARU ASD for managing anger among individuals with ASD without ID, although larger trials with prespecified primary outcomes are needed. Clinical trial registration: CRIS ( https://cris.nih.go.kr ), KCT0009760
Previous researchers determined virtual reality (VR) is an effective and efficient technology-based intervention for teaching life skills to students with disabilities. However, few researchers have explored the use of VR to teach community-based life skills, such as grocery shopping from a list. In this concurrent baseline multiple-probe single-case design study, researchers explored the effectiveness of a non-immersive VR program in teaching three middle school students with disabilities the important community-based life skill of grocery shopping. Researchers concluded two main results: (a) although each participant reached 100% independent accuracy for two consecutive probe sessions, researchers could not determine a functional relation between the non-immersive VR and participants’ independent accuracy due to the read-aloud accommodation provided to two of the three participants after their first intervention probe, and (b) all participants acquired the skill in a relatively short amount of time. Implications for practice are discussed.
Although visual analysis is integral to evaluating intervention effects in single-case research, little is known about how researchers actually use this method. Previous research on visual analysis has focused on the decisions that researchers make but has not examined how researchers use visual analysis to make those decisions. In this qualitative study, we used a think-aloud protocol and asked 15 researchers to verbalize their analysis as they viewed published multiple baseline design graphs. We analyzed transcripts using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR). Contrary to previous research on the reporting of visual analysis in published manuscripts, researchers frequently described level, trend, and variability. However, they discussed data sufficiency and covariation across tiers less often. Implications for future research include extending the think-aloud protocol to compare the analytic process across design types and expertise levels. Our findings may also contribute to the development or refinement of protocols for training visual analysis that are rooted in expert consensus.
