Managing Intolerance of Uncertainty (CUES-Ad) in Autistic Adolescents

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Managing Intolerance of Uncertainty in Autistic Adolescents – Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations – Adolescents (CUES-Ad)

  • IRAS ID

    253788

  • Contact name

    Renske Herrema

  • Contact email

    r.herrema@newcastle.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    NHS

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    N/a, N/a

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 7 months, 24 days

  • Research summary

    Anxiety is much more common in autistic people (including adolescents), than people without a diagnosis of autism. When autistic people are feeling anxious this is often linked to uncertainty. Difficulty managing uncertain situations (sometimes called intolerance of uncertainty) has been linked with anxiety in autism in previous studies. This means that therapy which helps autistic people to manage uncertainty better, may reduce their anxiety. We plan to complete some research with autistic adolescents who experience anxiety related to uncertainty.

    This study will provide us with information about a newly adapted intervention, based on talking therapy techniques, which aims to address intolerance of uncertainty. The therapy has previously been used with autistic adults and was found to be acceptable to them.

    We will recruit four autistic adolescents and their parents to help us with the research. The adolescents will complete some questionnaires about their thoughts and feelings at the beginning and then after 8 sessions of therapy and one final time 4 weeks later. They will also complete daily diaries recording how they are feeling about an uncertain situation that they experience frequently. Parents will also complete some questionnaires at the same timepoints.

    The present study therefore aims to adapt an intervention to make it suitable for autistic adolescents. The study will take place in an NHS service within Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, or Northumbria Health Care Foundation Trust in the North East of England.

  • REC name

    North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    19/NE/0035

  • Date of REC Opinion

    4 Mar 2019

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion