Coping with uncertainty in everyday situations (CUES©) to address intolerance of uncertainty in autistic children: an intervention feasibility trial.

Researchers tested a new program called CUES© to help autistic children cope better with uncertain or unpredictable situations. The program involves training parents in group sessions to support their children. They tested it with 50 families of autistic children who had anxiety. Most families attended the sessions regularly and found the program helpful and acceptable. The study showed the program could work well enough to test in a larger study.

This feasibility trial examined CUES© (Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations), a parent-mediated group intervention designed to help autistic children better tolerate uncertain situations. Fifty parents of autistic children with clinical anxiety were randomised to receive CUES© or enhanced usual services. The study found good attendance rates (72% attended 4-8 sessions), with parents and therapists reporting the intervention as useful and acceptable. Families demonstrated willingness to participate in randomisation, the intervention was feasible to deliver, and outcome measures were deemed appropriate.

The researchers concluded that CUES© shows sufficient promise to warrant evaluation in a full-scale randomised controlled trial examining clinical and cost-effectiveness.

CUES© shows promise as a feasible parent-mediated intervention for addressing uncertainty-related anxiety in autistic children. The positive feasibility results support conducting larger trials to evaluate clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness before potential implementation in clinical practice.

This was a feasibility study focused on acceptability and implementation rather than clinical effectiveness. The abstract does not report specific outcome data on anxiety or uncertainty tolerance changes. Sample size appears relatively small for definitive conclusions about intervention effects.

Anxiety related to uncertainty is common in autism. Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations (CUES©) is a parent-mediated group intervention aiming to increase autistic children's tolerance to uncertain situations. A pilot study was conducted to test its feasibility and acceptability. Parents of 50 autistic children were randomised to receive CUES© or enhanced services as usual.

All children met the clinical threshold for at least one anxiety disorder. Of the 26 participants randomised to CUES©, 72% attended 4-8 sessions. Parents and therapists reported they found CUES© useful and acceptable. Families were willing to be recruited and randomised, the format/content was feasible to deliver, and the outcome measures were acceptable.

CUES© should be evaluated in a clinical and cost effectiveness randomised controlled trial.