Personalised anxiety treatment for autism - the PAT-A Trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the effectiveness of personalised non-pharmacological anxiety treatment for autistic adults and older people.
IRAS ID
235805
Contact name
Jeremy Parr
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Anxiety is common in people on the autism spectrum, and leads to everyday difficulties affecting quality of life. National guidance suggests current National Health Service treatments for anxiety be modified to make them appropriate for autistic adults. Recently, the autism community rated anxiety treatment as a top research priority. This study will investigate the feasibility of providing a personalised anxiety treatment package to autistic adults, and its effects.
We will conduct a national autism and anxiety survey, and gather the views from autistic people and professionals about treatments. Using this information, we will adapt current NHS anxiety treatments to make them ‘fit for purpose’ for use with autistic adults. Often people on the autism spectrum experience the symptoms of multiple anxiety types, which means that a treatment approach focusing on one anxiety disorder alone is less effective than expected. Our programme enables a personalised treatment plan to be developed for each individual to address their own specific anxiety profile.
We will investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of delivering an adapted personalised treatment plan through the NHS. Up to 40 people will be allocated by chance to one of two groups – improved treatment as usual, or personalised anxiety treatment - autism (PAT-A). We will measure whether the treatment is acceptable to autistic adults (and where relevant, their relatives). We will investigate effectiveness by comparing the impact of anxiety on the individual’s daily life before and after treatment. At the end of the study we will work collaboratively with other UK clinical researchers to learn from our findings, and make any further adaptations needed to these personalised treatment plans. We will then consider applying for further funding to undertake a full scale evaluation of the treatment approach through the National Institute for Health Research.
REC name
Wales REC 5
REC reference
18/WA/0014
Date of REC Opinion
19 Jan 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion