NCT05599711

Transitioning Together Boston

Testing the Efficacy of an Adapted Family-Centered Autism Transition Intervention in a Safety Net Hospital Setting

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 48 (actual)
• Sponsor: Boston Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 14 Years – 21 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

A randomized controlled trial will be conducted to determine the effects of an adapted family-centered autism transition intervention called Transitioning Together/Juntos en la Transición on meaningful outcomes for families. The study will occur in a safety net hospital setting. The adapted version of this multi-family group psychoeducation intervention is delivered across one individual family joining session and four 2.5 hour multi-family group sessions. The parent and youth groups are held in separately, at the same time.

Detailed description

Objective 1: The investigators will test the efficacy of the adapted version of Transitioning Together on youth quality of life and progress toward individual transition goals. 128 English and/or Spanish speaking families of youth ages 14-21 years will be enrolled in the study. The primary enrollment site is Boston Medical Center (BMC), an urban safety net hospital where patients predominantly (\>75%) from low-income households are served. The effects of Transitioning Together will be compared to a usual care control condition with a referral to the Transition Specialist within BMC's Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics clinic. Youth quality of life and progress toward individual transition goals will be compared from baseline and three-to-six months following randomization. The investigators hypothesize that Transitioning Together will have a significant positive effect on youth quality of life and goal attainment across the two time points. Objective 2: Additional standardized assessments will be administered to the 128 parents and the 128 autistic youth, to examine the effects of Transitioning Together compared to the control condition on: the broader family unit's well-being, empowerment, coping skills, social support, transition readiness, and family climate. The investigators will explore whether these factors act to mediate or moderate primary or secondary study outcomes (youth quality of life and progress toward individual transition goals). These putative mediators and moderators will be assessed at the baseline and 3-to 6-months following randomization.

Conditions

• Autism or Autistic Traits
• Family Relations

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Transitioning Together (TT) / Juntos en la Transicion (JET)	1. One individual family joining session when each family dyad meets with group therapists to establish rapport and share their own unique family's background, goals, and supports. 2. A series of four 2.5-hour multi-family group psychoeducation intervention sessions focused on problem-solving education and psychoeducational autism transition-to-adulthood content which can include independence in adulthood, community involvement, guardianship and legal issues, employment and education, health and well-being.
BEHAVIORAL	Usual autism transition care	An expedited referral will be made for participants to establish care with a BMC Autism Program Transition/Resource Specialist. Data will be abstracted from the electronic medical record on how many visits each family completes with a BMC Autism Program Transition/Resource Specialist or other BMC Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics provider throughout the study period.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-02-10
• Primary completion: 2026-10-01
• Completion: 2026-10-01
• First posted: 2022-10-31
• Last updated: 2025-11-24

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States