Motivation for Daily Living Skills
Enhancing Motivation to Complete Daily Living Skills Among Transition-aged Autistic Youth
1 other identifier
interventional
180
1 country
1
Brief Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to enhance motivation to complete daily living skills among 16 to 25-year-old autistic teens and young adults. Here are the main questions the trial aims to answer: Can this trial improve motivation to complete daily living skills for skills that people know how to do but struggle to do them consistently? Can this trial improve completion of the daily living skill that the participant identifies they want to do more often? Do people report feeling more empowered to complete the daily living skill they want to do more often? Are there any characteristics of a person that make them more or less likely to benefit from the treatment? Researchers will compare treatments that target different types of motivation:
- One treatment focuses on internal motivation and explores what is important to someone and then connect that value back to their daily living skill goal.
- A second treatment focuses on external motivation and will explore a person finding outside sources of motivation, like rewards.
- A third treatment will use a combination of both methods. Autistic teens and young adults enrolled in this study will also be asked to choose someone in their life to be involved in the study with them. This person is called an "Important Person" (IP) and can be anyone close to them, like a family member, friend, roommate, partner, etc. The IP will be expected to support the teen/young adult throughout this treatment. Participants and their IPs will:
- Complete five 'talk' therapy sessions that will last 60 to 90 minutes. The IPs will join the last 15 minutes of each session)
- Be assigned to one of the three motivation treatments
- Fill out questionnaires before the first session, after sessions 2 through 5, and 2 weeks after therapy ends
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for not_applicable
Started Sep 2025
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
August 29, 2025
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
September 8, 2025
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
September 15, 2025
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
February 1, 2027
ExpectedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
February 1, 2027
October 2, 2025
October 1, 2025
1.4 years
August 29, 2025
October 1, 2025
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
Motivation to Change
The primary outcome measure for this study is the individual's motivation to change and improve upon their daily living skill. Motivation will be measured through 4 separate questions that ask about one's desire, ability, need, and commitment to change. All 4 questions will use the same scale, which ranges from 1 - 10. A total score will be used as the measure. This total score will be calculated by adding the score from each individual question. A higher score indicates a greater level of motivation.
Up to 9 weeks.
Secondary Outcomes (2)
Behavior Change Scale
Up to 9 weeks.
Empowerment Measure
Up to 9 weeks.
Study Arms (3)
Intrinsic Motivation Treatment
EXPERIMENTALIndividuals assigned to this group will participate in the Intrinsic Motivation Treatment, which focuses on exploring a person's reasons for improving their completion of the daily living skill, such as reaching their goal of independence.
Extrinsic Motivation Treatment
ACTIVE COMPARATORIndividuals assigned to this group will participate in the Extrinsic Motivation Treatment. This treatment explores a person finding outside sources of motivation, such as treating themselves to something like or want.
Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Treatment
EXPERIMENTALIndividuals assigned to this group will participate in the Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Treatment. This treatment combines methods from the Intrinsic Motivation Treatment and the Extrinsic Motivation Treatment. For example, exploring both a person's reasons behind wanting to improve upon their completion of a daily living skill as well as what outside sources will help increase their motivation to improve upon that skill.
Interventions
The Intrinsic Motivation treatment utilizes principles of Motivational Interviewing to help autistic young adults increase their desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.
The Extrinsic Motivation treatment utilizes behavioral principles to help autistic adolescents and young adults create reward schedules and behavioral tracking sheets to enhance desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.
The Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation treatment combines elements of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation treatments to enhance desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60-90 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Age 16-25 years
- Participants reporting an autism diagnosis from a qualified provider (Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Developmental Pediatrician, Neurologist). When possible, diagnosis will be confirmed through the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Electronic Health Record (EHR).
- Must identify an important person who is able to communicate by understanding and speaking full sentences in English
- Ability to communicate by understanding and using full sentences in English
- Informed Consent
- Be willing to have sessions audio- and video-recorded
You may not qualify if:
- Diagnosis of Intellectual Disability
- Participant is currently considered a suicide risk in the opinion of the Investigator or is currently demonstrating active suicidal or homicidal ideation or self-injurious behavior.
- Current, comorbid psychiatric disorder with sufficiently intense symptoms in the opinion of the Investigator that these symptoms may confound treatment.
- Changes to mental health treatment plan (ex. starting or ending therapy or psychotropic medications over the course of this intervention).
- Participation in a prior trial of our intrinsic motivation condition
- Age 18 years or older
- Must attend at least 15 minutes of each treatment session
- Ability to communicate by understanding and using full sentences in English
- Informed consent
- Be willing to have sessions audio- and video-recorded
- \- Is not willing to support the autistic teen/young adult with their daily living skill goal
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
Study Sites (1)
CHOP Center for Advanced Behavioral Healthcare
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19139, United States
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Benjamin E Yerys, PhD
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Central Study Contacts
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- SINGLE
- Who Masked
- PARTICIPANT
- Purpose
- TREATMENT
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- SPONSOR
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
August 29, 2025
First Posted
September 8, 2025
Study Start
September 15, 2025
Primary Completion (Estimated)
February 1, 2027
Study Completion (Estimated)
February 1, 2027
Last Updated
October 2, 2025
Record last verified: 2025-10