Social skills training in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a randomized-controlled clinical trial. Training in social skills: an alternative technique for handling disruptive child behavior. Comparison of education versus behavioral skills training interventions in lowering sexual HIV-risk behavior of substance-dependent adolescents. Social skills training for drug prevention in high-risk female adolescents. A randomized, controlled trial of cognitive behavioral social skills training for middle-aged and older outpatients with chronic schizophrenia. Cognitive-behavioral intervention to reduce African American adolescents' risk for HIV infection. Parent-assisted social skills training to improve friendships in teens with autism spectrum disorders. The impact of social skills training on the adjustment of children with newly diagnosed cancer. Social skills training with parent generalization: treatment effects for children with attention deficit disorder.
Evaluated efficacy of social skills training (SST) on children with 2 subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were 120 children (30 girls, 90 boys), ages 8 to 12 with ADHD-Inattentive type (ADHD-I; n = 59) or Combined type (ADHD-C; n = 61). The children were randomly assigned within diagnosis subtype to the treatment condition (8 weeks of SST) or the no-intervention control condition. SST led to greater improvements in both parent- and child-perceived assertion skills in the children with ADHD, yet did not affect the other domains of social competence. Diagnostically heterogeneous groups led to greater improvements on parent-report of their child's cooperation and assertion abilities as well as children's report of their own empathy skills. Diagnostically homogeneous groups led to greater decreases in externalizing behaviors at posttreatment but not at follow-up. Children with comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) did not benefit as much from the intervention. Children with ADHD-I improved in assertion skills more than children with ADHD-C, yet the 2 diagnostic entities did not differ in improvement levels across all other social skills. The purposes of this study were to examine the type of response to different situations displayed by children with or without conduct disorders and to assess the efficacy of the social skills training program herein proposed for modifying styles of interpersonal relationship in children. The sample included 315 children, 8 to 12 years of age. Those exhibiting conduct problems were 164 boys, and those having no conduct problems were 151 boys. All participants shared a low socioeconomic and cultural status and attended schools located in poor districts of Mendoza City in Argentina. Analysis showed that the groups trained in social skills improved in social interaction by reducing disruptive behaviors, whereas the groups without social skills training showed no behavioral changes. These data were confirmed by the teachers' assessments. These results suggest social skills training seems an efficient therapeutic approach to the attenuation of behavior disorders of boys. Substance-dependent adolescents (N = 34) in a residential drug treatment facility received either a 6-session behavior skills training HIV-risk reduction intervention or standard HIV education. After the intervention, adolescents who received behavior skills training exhibited increased knowledge about HIV-AIDS, more favorable attitudes toward prevention and condom use, more internal locus of control, increased self-efficacy, increased recognition of HIV risk and decreases in high-risk sexual activity. Self-report data were corroborated by records for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. The results from this pilot demonstration effort suggest that skills training based on cognitive-behavioral principles may be effective in lowering high-risk adolescents' vulnerability to HIV infection and warrant evaluation in a controlled comparison with a larger sample. The effectiveness of social skills training/social network restructuring in the primary and secondary prevention of drug use was examined in a multiethnic cohort of 296 female adolescents ages 14 to 19 years who were pregnant or parenting and/or at risk for drug use.
                Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (a) PALS Skills Training or (b) a control intervention involving no skills training. PALS Skills Training is a combination of cognitive and behavioral techniques to improve social skills and to restructure the teens' social network. All students also participated in a 16-week normative education "Facts of Life" course.
                The prevalence of alcohol and any drug use increased significantly over the three assessment periods in the PALS Skills group but not in the No Skills group. Teens in the PALS Skills group who reported no drug use at baseline were 2.9 times as likely to be using marijuana than teens in the No Skills group at 3 months postintervention. PALS Skills Training was no more effective in the secondary prevention of drug use than the control intervention.
                Social skills training was found to be ineffective as a means of primary prevention among non-drug-using high-risk adolescents and may even be counterproductive as a means of primary prevention of marijuana use in this population. When combined with normative information on drug use prevalence, acceptability, and hazards, social skills training is no more effective as a means of secondary prevention than normative education alone. The number of older patients with chronic schizophrenia is increasing. There is a need for empirically validated psychotherapy interventions for these patients. Cognitive behavioral social skills training teaches cognitive and behavioral coping techniques, social functioning skills, problem solving, and compensatory aids for neurocognitive impairments. The authors compared treatment as usual with the combination of treatment as usual plus cognitive behavioral social skills training.
                The randomized, controlled trial included 76 middle-aged and older outpatients with chronic schizophrenia, who were assigned to either treatment as usual or combined treatment. Cognitive behavioral social skills training was administered over 24 weekly group sessions. Blind raters assessed social functioning, psychotic and depressive symptoms, cognitive insight, and skill mastery.
                After treatment, the patients receiving combined treatment performed social functioning activities significantly more frequently than the patients in treatment as usual, although general skill at social functioning activities did not differ significantly. Patients receiving cognitive behavioral social skills training achieved significantly greater cognitive insight, indicating more objectivity in reappraising psychotic symptoms, and demonstrated greater skill mastery. The overall group effect was not significant for symptoms, but the greater increase in cognitive insight with combined treatment was significantly correlated with greater reduction in positive symptoms.
                With cognitive behavioral social skills training, middle-aged and older outpatients with chronic schizophrenia learned coping skills, evaluated anomalous experiences with more objectivity (achieved greater cognitive insight), and improved social functioning. Additional research is needed to determine whether cognitive insight mediates psychotic symptom change in cognitive behavior therapy for psychosis. Two hundred forty-six African American adolescents were randomly assigned to an educational program or an 8-week intervention that combined education with behavior skills training including correct condom use, sexual assertion, refusal, information provision, self-management, problem solving, and risk recognition. Skill-trained participants (a) reduced unprotected intercourse, (b) increased condom-protected intercourse, and (c) displayed increased behavioral skills to a greater extent than participants who received information alone. The patterns of change differed by gender. Risk reduction was maintained 1 year later for skill-trained youths. It was found that 31.1% of youths in the education program who were abstinent at baseline had initiated sexual activity 1 year later, whereas only 11.5% of skills training participants were sexually active. The results indicate that youths who were equipped with information and specific skills lowered their risk to a greater degree, maintained risk reduction changes better, and deferred the onset of sexual activity to a greater extent than youths who received information alone. This study examines the efficacy of a manualized parent-assisted social skills intervention in comparison with a matched Delayed Treatment Control group to improve friendship quality and social skills among teens 13-17 years of age with autism spectrum disorders. Targeted skills included conversational skills, peer entry and exiting skills, developing friendship networks, good sportsmanship, good host behavior during get-togethers, changing bad reputations, and handling teasing, bullying, and arguments. Results revealed, in comparison with the control group, that the treatment group significantly improved their knowledge of social skills, increased frequency of hosted get-togethers, and improved overall social skills as reported by parents. Possibly due to poor return rate of questionnaires, social skills improvement reported by teachers was not significant. Future research should provide follow-up data to test the durability of treatment. Randomized 64 children ages 5 to 13 years with newly diagnosed cancer to either a Social Skills Training experimental treatment group or a School Reintegration standard treatment group. Children who received explicit training in social skills reported higher perceived classmate and teacher social support at the 9-month follow-up in comparison to pretreatment levels, while parents reported a decrease in internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and an increase in school competence. Methodological improvements for Phase III clinical trials are addressed. The effectiveness of brief social skills training (SST) was evaluated in a controlled outcome study with 27 children meeting criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., revised; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) for an attention deficit disorder. Children were randomly assigned to either SST with parent-mediated generalization (SST-PG), child-only SST, or a wait-list control group. SST consisted of 8 group sessions in which skill modules were taught sequentially. Parents of children in the SST-PG group simultaneously participated in group generalization training designed to support their children's transfer of skills. Significant improvement in children's skill knowledge and in parent reports of social skills and disruptive behavior occurred for both treatment groups relative to the wait-list control group and maintained at a 4-month follow-up. More modest evidence was found for generalization of SST to the school setting.
The review suggests that there is little evidence to support or refute social skills training for adolescents with ADHD. There is need for more trials, with low risk of bias and with a sufficient number of participants, investigating the efficacy of social skills training versus no training for both children and adolescents.