Brief Report: Assessment of Intervention Effects on In Vivo Peer Interactions in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a randomized controlled trial of a social skills intervention, the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS: Laugeson et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 39(4): 596–606, 2009), by coding digitally recorded social interactions between adolescent participants with ASD and a typically developing adolescent confederate. Adolescent participants engaged in a 10-min peer interaction at pre- and post-treatment. Interactions were coded using the Contextual Assessment of Social Skills (Ratto et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 41(9): 1277–1286, 2010). Participants who completed PEERS demonstrated significantly improved vocal expressiveness, as well as a trend toward improved overall quality of rapport, whereas participants in the waitlist group exhibited worse performance on these domains. The degree of this change was related to knowledge gained in PEERS

Assessing Pediatric Chronic Pain Treatment Engagement: Development and Initial Validation of the Pediatric Pain Perceived Behavioral Control Measure

Pediatric chronic pain significantly impacts functioning across all domains of life and often carries forward into adulthood. Chronic pain is often complex to treat and pediatric non-adherence to treatment recommendations has been indicated to be upwards of 55%. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior as a framework, the aim of the present study was to develop and validate two measures of perceived behavioral control for chronic pain treatment recommendations with a clinical adolescent patient sample (patient and parent proxy versions). The measures underwent development, data from a pediatric chronic pain clinical sample were collected, and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted on both a patient and parent proxy versions of the pediatric pain perceived behavioral control measure. The resulting measures included a 2-factor patient measure that accounted for approximately 65% of the variance, and a 3-factor parent proxy measure that accounted for approximately 72% of the variance. The resulting measures demonstrated reliability, content validity, and emerging construct validity. Implications for future directions include further validation of the study measures as well as further analysis into reasons why certain hypothesized recommendations did not emerge or appear as relevant factors including lifestyle modifications and psychotherapy. Future development of the measures should include collecting data from a new clinical sample to determine if the factor structure holds through use of a confirmatory factor analysis

A Pilot Study of Iyengar Yoga for Pediatric Obesity: Effects on Gait and Emotional Functioning

Obesity negatively impacts the kinematics and kinetics of the lower extremities in children and adolescents. Although yoga has the potential to provide several distinct benefits for children with obesity, this is the first study to examine the benefits of yoga for gait (primary outcome) in youths with obesity. Secondary outcomes included health-related quality of life (HRQoL), physical activity, and pain. Feasibility and acceptability were also assessed. Nine youths (11–17 years) participated in an eight-week Iyengar yoga intervention (bi-weekly 1-h classes). Gait, HRQOL (self and parent-proxy reports), and physical activity were assessed at baseline and post-yoga. Pain was self-reported at the beginning of each class. Significant improvements were found in multiple gait parameters, including hip, knee, and ankle motion and moments. Self-reported and parent-proxy reports of emotional functioning significantly improved. Time spent in physical activity and weight did not change. This study demonstrates that a relatively brief, non-invasive Iyengar yoga intervention can result in improved malalignment of the lower extremities during ambulation, as well as in clinically meaningful improvements in emotional functioning. This study extends current evidence that supports a role for yoga in pediatric obesity