EXAMINATION OF THE METHODOLOGICAL QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF SINGLE-CASE STUDIES ON SOCIAL SKILLS INTERVENTIONS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

• Author / Creator

  Wang, Shin-Yi

• This dissertation includes three studies investigating the methodological quality and treatment effectiveness of single-case research on social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Study One developed a list of quality indicators that can be used to examine methodological quality of studies that use single-case research methods. Study One presents the rationale for each indicator and demonstrates how these indicators can be applied. Study Two examined the effectiveness of two different intervention approaches, peer-mediated and video-modeling approaches, by using hierarchical linear modeling. Both intervention approaches were found to significantly improve social behavior of participants with autism spectrum disorders, the two approaches did not differ in their effectiveness, and their effectiveness was moderated by the age of the participants. Study Three investigated treatment effects of 115 single-case studies on social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders and examined the impact of three moderators – age, length of intervention, and research design – on the treatment effectiveness. An overall large mean effect size was found. Only one of the examined moderators, type of research design, moderated the intervention effects: the studies that adopted multiple baseline or reversal design tended to have better outcomes than the studies that adopted other types of single-case research designs. Together, the three studies increase our understanding of the research quality and intervention effectiveness of single-case studies on social skills interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and help to promote evidence-based practices in this field.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • SOCIAL SKILLS INTERVENTIONS
  • METHODOLOGICAL QUALITY
  • META-ANALYSIS
  • AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

• Graduation date

  Spring 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3PW2S

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.