The efficacy of mindfulness-based therapy for anxiety, social skills, and aggressive behaviors in children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review

Tundi Loftus; Danielle C Mathersul; Michelle Ooi; Shu H Yau

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1079471

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The efficacy of mindfulness-based therapy for anxiety, social skills, and aggressive behaviors in children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

The efficacy of mindfulness-based therapy for anxiety, social skills, and aggressive behaviors in children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review

Tundi Loftus, Danielle C Mathersul, Michelle Ooi and Shu H Yau

Frontiers in psychiatry, Vol.14, 1079471

2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1079471

PMID: 36993931

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Abstract

aggressive behaviors

anxiety

children

mindfulness

yoga

young people

autism

social skills

The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for improving anxiety, social skills, and aggressive behaviors in children and young people (CYP) with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); summarize the results across clinic, home, and school contexts; and evaluate the quality of these interventions for clinical practice. A search of the PsycINFO, Medline (Ovid), Web of Science, and Scopus databases was conducted in June 2021, and no date restrictions were applied. Inclusion criteria were quantitative or qualitative research implementing a mindfulness-based intervention for CYP aged 6-25 years with a diagnosis of ASD, Pervasive Development Disorder, or Asperger's Syndrome. We identified 23 articles for inclusion including within subject pre- and post-testing, multiple baselines, and randomized control trials, among other research designs. Of these, a quality analysis conducted using an ASD research-specific risk of bias tool found over half (14) were of weak methodological quality, whereas only four and five were found to be of strong and adequate quality, respectively. While the results of this systematic review suggest promising evidence for the use of mindfulness-based interventions to improve anxiety, social skills, and aggressive behaviors in CYP with ASD, results should be interpreted with caution due to the limitations resulting from the overall weak quality of the studies.The review protocol was pre-registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021259125) and can be viewed at https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=259125.

Details

Title: The efficacy of mindfulness-based therapy for anxiety, social skills, and aggressive behaviors in children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review
Authors/Creators: Tundi Loftus - Murdoch University
Danielle C Mathersul - Murdoch University, Centre for Molecular Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics
Michelle Ooi - School of Psychology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
Shu H Yau - University of Bristol
Publication Details: Frontiers in psychiatry, Vol.14, 1079471
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.
Identifiers: 991005568769307891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics; Centre for Healthy Ageing
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 1 Clinical & Life Sciences; 1.136 Autism & Development Disorders; 1.136.283 Autism Spectrum Disorders
Web Of Science research areas: Psychiatry
ESI research areas: Psychiatry/Psychology