PEERS® program for Taiwanese autistic adolescents: The effectiveness on reducing school bullying and enhancing social function
The following is an extract from a study that examined the effectiveness of the PEERS® program, adapted for Taiwanese autistic teenagers. The findings suggest that the program effectively improves social function and reduces the risk of bullying in school for these teens.
The findings indicate that teenagers with social difficulties, especially those on the autism spectrum, should be encouraged to participate in the PEERS® program, which provides essential skills and strategies to cope with social difficulties and school bullying.
Authors: Mei-Ni Hsiao, Yi-Ling Chien, Yueh-Ming Tai, Heng-Man Chen, Hsien-Hsueh Shih, Li-Wei Chen, Yu-Ying Chen, Wei-Tsuen Soong, Yen-Nan Chiu, Wen-Che Tsai, Elizabeth Laugeson, Mei-Hui Tseng, Susan Shur-Fen Gau
DISCUSSION
As the first study in ethnic Chinese to investigate the effectiveness of the PEERS ® program for adolescents in Mandarin, our findings indicate that the Taiwanese adolescent PEERS ® program effectively reduces the risk of school bullying, decreases social challenges, and enhances social skills in autistic adolescents.
The program’s feasibility was demonstrated by high attendance (96%), overall satisfaction (97%), and homework completion rate (96%). The absence of dropouts further highlights its feasibility and acceptability among Taiwanese adolescents.
After treatment, there were significant reductions in general bullying involvement, victimisation, and perpetration (assessed by parents), along with a significant reduction in social challenges (assessed by adolescent participants), as well as significant improvements in social skills knowledge (assessed by adolescent participants) and social skills performance (assessed by parents). These intervention gains were generally maintained at 4-month follow-up assessments.
There was a significant decrease in bullying among autistic adolescents after the intervention, as reported by their parents. Additionally, a clinically significant shift from bullying involvement to non-involvement was demonstrated by more than half of the adolescents (10 out of 21). More specifically, it showed a decrease in the severity of bullying victimisation and perpetration, indicating that the PEERS ® intervention successfully reduced the occurrence of various types of school bullying and their severity.
The findings suggested the impact of PEERS® was expanded notably beyond its original and primary focus on social functioning. The significant improvements in social skills knowledge and social skills performance replicated previous findings in autistic adolescents from other cultural backgrounds (Idris et al., 2022 ; Laugeson et al., 2008 ; Sittanomai et al., 2021 ; Yamada et al., 2020 ; Yoo et al., 2014 ).
Apart from social skills, the significant reduction in social challenges after treatment confirms previous findings showing a significant decrease in severity related to social impairments (Idris et al., 2020 ; Laugeson et al., 2012 ). The current findings unequivocally highlight the broader impact of the PEERS® program, extending beyond social skills enhancement to encompass a significant reduction in school bullying.
Furthermore, the improvement in bullying involvement and social function remained statistically significant after controlling for age, sex, and IQ. These results further support the efficacy of the PEERS ® program in benefiting autistic adolescents across different developmental stages (such as junior or senior high school age), different sexes, and cognitive abilities (i.e., IQ at or above average).