Basic Body Awareness Therapy for young adults with autism : - a pragmatic randomized controlled trial
(2023) International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting- Abstract
- Background: Young adults with autism often have problems with body awareness, also acknowledged by physiotherapists. This may interfere with various physiological and psychological responses, expressed in reduced movement quality. Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) may be suitable to address these difficulties, to enhance body awareness and movement quality to manage everyday life. Body Awareness Scale and Movement Quality (BAS MQ) is an outcome measure with acceptable measurement properties in people with autism, that could be used to evaluate BBAT.
Objectives: To evaluate if BBAT may be effective for improving movement quality in people with autism.
Methods: People with autism, 15-30 years were randomized to either an individual... (More) - Background: Young adults with autism often have problems with body awareness, also acknowledged by physiotherapists. This may interfere with various physiological and psychological responses, expressed in reduced movement quality. Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) may be suitable to address these difficulties, to enhance body awareness and movement quality to manage everyday life. Body Awareness Scale and Movement Quality (BAS MQ) is an outcome measure with acceptable measurement properties in people with autism, that could be used to evaluate BBAT.
Objectives: To evaluate if BBAT may be effective for improving movement quality in people with autism.
Methods: People with autism, 15-30 years were randomized to either an individual BBAT intervention of 12 weekly sessions and treatment-as-usual, or to a control group receiving treatment-as-usual only. Winsteps transformed data of BAS MQ at baseline and post-intervention were used to analyze changes in movement quality for each group.
Results: The preliminary results indicate significant improvements in BAS MQ for 7 out of 28 participants in the intervention group, while none had deteriorated. In the control group, there was no significant changes. Three participants discontinued participation due to high anxiety from travelling to and from the sessions.
Conclusions: The preliminary results indicate that BBAT can enhance movement quality, in line with previous findings from other groups, such as in psychiatric and pain interventions. This is the first study of BBAT in people with autism, and therefore there is no study to compare with. The special needs in autism require being acknowledged in all service delivery. The preliminary result suggests that BBAT may be a method to improve movement quality in people with autism. Further clinical trials of BBAT should be carried out to investigate possible impacts on everyday functioning. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2a2ab272-4cde-4f41-8ad7-d0f5feb4b037
- author
- Bertilsson, Ingrid
LU
; Brogårdh, Christina LU ; Opheim, Arve ; Lundvik Gyllensten, Amanda LU ; Melin, Jeanette and Sjödahl Hammarlund, Catharina LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting
- conference location
- Stockholm, Sweden
- conference dates
- 2023-05-03 - 2023-05-06
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 2a2ab272-4cde-4f41-8ad7-d0f5feb4b037
- date added to LUP
- 2024-08-27 09:09:31
- date last changed
- 2024-08-27 12:05:12
@misc{2a2ab272-4cde-4f41-8ad7-d0f5feb4b037, abstract = {{Background: Young adults with autism often have problems with body awareness, also acknowledged by physiotherapists. This may interfere with various physiological and psychological responses, expressed in reduced movement quality. Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) may be suitable to address these difficulties, to enhance body awareness and movement quality to manage everyday life. Body Awareness Scale and Movement Quality (BAS MQ) is an outcome measure with acceptable measurement properties in people with autism, that could be used to evaluate BBAT.<br/>Objectives: To evaluate if BBAT may be effective for improving movement quality in people with autism.<br/>Methods: People with autism, 15-30 years were randomized to either an individual BBAT intervention of 12 weekly sessions and treatment-as-usual, or to a control group receiving treatment-as-usual only. Winsteps transformed data of BAS MQ at baseline and post-intervention were used to analyze changes in movement quality for each group.<br/>Results: The preliminary results indicate significant improvements in BAS MQ for 7 out of 28 participants in the intervention group, while none had deteriorated. In the control group, there was no significant changes. Three participants discontinued participation due to high anxiety from travelling to and from the sessions. <br/>Conclusions: The preliminary results indicate that BBAT can enhance movement quality, in line with previous findings from other groups, such as in psychiatric and pain interventions. This is the first study of BBAT in people with autism, and therefore there is no study to compare with. The special needs in autism require being acknowledged in all service delivery. The preliminary result suggests that BBAT may be a method to improve movement quality in people with autism. Further clinical trials of BBAT should be carried out to investigate possible impacts on everyday functioning.}}, author = {{Bertilsson, Ingrid and Brogårdh, Christina and Opheim, Arve and Lundvik Gyllensten, Amanda and Melin, Jeanette and Sjödahl Hammarlund, Catharina}}, language = {{eng}}, title = {{Basic Body Awareness Therapy for young adults with autism : - a pragmatic randomized controlled trial}}, url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/194052153/INSAR2023_Poster_16_9.pptx}}, year = {{2023}}, }