Improvements in general mental health among autistic adolescents
autistic, depression, depressive symptoms
Based on the SDQ scores, in the COMB group, there were improvements in adolescents’ general mental health, but this was not the case with the TAU group. Furthermore, based on the Vineland-II, the social adjustment did not significantly improve in autistic adolescents, but the effect size was moderate (d = 0.60). These findings suggest that the ACAT program was effective for the general mental health of autistic adolescents but not for their social adjustment. Contrastingly, the change in the score of depressive symptoms was not significantly different between the COMB and TAU groups, and the effect sizes were low (d = 0.03, d = 0.08). The average DSRS-C score in the COMB and TAU groups was 16.8 and 16.6, respectively, below the cut-off of 19.3 for current depression [Employing the therapeutic process of CBT, cognitive and behavioral strategies can be created through increased awareness of problems (metacognition and cognition) [