NCT07056387

The Effects of a Nurse-led Community-based Sailing Programme on Resilience of School-aged Children With Autism: An RCT

The Effects of a Nurse-led Community-based Sailing Programme on Resilience of School-aged Children With Autism: A Randomised Controlled Trial

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 184 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Chinese University of Hong Kong · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 7 Years – 12 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this randomised controlled trial is to evaluate the effect of a nurse-led community-based sailing programme on resilience of school-aged children with autism in inclusive education. Does intervention improve the resilience of participants? Does intervention improve the quality of life, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and social functioning outcomes of participants? Researchers will compare the effect of intervention (community-based sailing programme) to the attention control group (Crafting activities) at baseline, post-intervention, and at 3-month and 9-month follow-ups. Participants will: Participants in the intervention group will participate in a nurse-led community-based sailing programme over six days, with each day consisting of 4 sessions, each lasting an hour, for a total of 24 hours. Participants in the attention control group will engage in crafting activities with minimal difficulty, focusing on maintaining attention without any emotional or reflective discussions.

Detailed description

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that typically emerges in early childhood, characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction, with the presence of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities. This study seeks to address the outcome gap in the literature, the resilience of children with ASD, and contribute to their holistic health through integrating nature and the community. The study hypothesizes that, compared to the attention control group, school-aged children with ASD in inclusive education who participate in the intervention group will exhibit: (1) increased levels of resilience, (2) improved quality of life (QoL), (3) reduced depressive symptoms, (4) enhanced self-esteem, and (5) improved social functioning, both immediately post-intervention and at 3-month and 9-month follow-ups.

Conditions

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Resilience

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	A nurse-led community-based sailing programme	A nurse-led community-based sailing programme is validated by an expert panel including professionals from various fields, such as a registered nurse, academia, and qualified sailing instructors, delivered in a group of 6 participants, incorporating experiential learning, with the aid of materials including dinghies with Universal design, safety boats, buoys, buoyancy aids, supplementing with a waterproof sailing booklet. The intervention is developed and facilitated by a registered nurse (principal investigator).
OTHER	Crafting activities	Participants in the attention control group will participate in crafting activities. Activities match the time and attention dedicated by the intervention group. Activities are designed to have no impact on resilience.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-08-15
• Primary completion: 2026-04-15
• Completion: 2026-12-31
• First posted: 2025-07-09
• Last updated: 2025-07-09