(PS11-C74) Improvements in Depression and Perceived Control in Autistic Youth in Response to a Single-session Growth-mindset Intervention

Standard interventions for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are time-intensive, ranging from 12-16+ weeks in length and requiring multiple hours per week (Perihan et al., 2019). Additionally, co-occurring psychiatric disorders are elevated in autistic youth (Rosen et al., 2018), further increasing time and financial burdens associated with accessing mental health services and highlighting the need for accessible, low-cost interventions within this population. Single-session interventions (SSIs) offer a scalable solution and have shown remarkable efficacy in treating other developmental psychopathologies (Schleider & Weisz, 2017). Thus, we conducted the first pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) for autistic youth of an SSI designed for internalizing problems in non-autistic youth.

33 autistic youth (M_age=14.14, SD_age=1.55; 28 male) with IQ≥70 (M_IQ=107.68, SD_IQ=15.86) and ADOS-2-confirmed ASD were randomly assigned to a growth-mindset SSI (Project Personality; PP) or active control. The majority of participants (21; 64%) completed the study in entirely virtual (i.e., delivered online) format. Participants completed measures of perceived control over their behavior via the Perceived Control Scale for Children (Weisz et al., 2013), social competence and close friendships via the Self-Perception Profile (Harter, 1985), and perceived malleability of personality via the Implicit Theories of Personality Questionnaire (Yeager et al., 2013) immediately before and after the intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Participants also completed the Children's Depression Inventory 2 (Kovacs, 2010), a measure of depression, before the intervention and at 3-month follow-up. 28 youth completed 3-month follow-up questionnaires. ANCOVA of changes analyses controlling for pre-intervention values were run.

There were no differences across the measures between groups pre-intervention. Youth receiving PP reported greater increases in perceived control (β=.189, f²=.037, p=.010) and perceived social competence (β=.191, f²=.035, p=.017) than youth in the active control immediately following the intervention. In addition, youth receiving PP reported marginally greater improvements in perceived close friendship (β=.233, f²=.057, p=.068) and perceived malleability of personality (β=-.174, f²=.029, p=.074) compared to youth in the active control immediately following the intervention. Further, youth in the PP condition reported significantly greater reductions in depression symptoms at 3-month follow-up than did youth in the active control condition (β=-.345, f²=.135, p=.030).

Autistic youth reported increased perception of self-control, malleability of personality, and social competence, improved close friendships, and fewer depressive symptoms. Results suggest that growth-mindset SSIs are a promising, time- and cost-effective intervention for internalizing symptoms in autistic youth. It is particularly noteworthy that this intervention can be completed entirely online, given current restrictions of in-person interactions during the current pandemic. Future research should continue to evaluate the efficacy of SSIs and other low-intensity adaptations of evidence-based interventions in ASD.