Changes in social functioning and emotional well-being following an integrated social skills training programme in autistic adults: A pre–post study

Social skills training (SST) is widely used to improve interpersonal functioning in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet evidence in autistic adults remains limited, particularly with regard to emotional outcomes. This study examined changes in perceived social functioning and emotional well-being following participation in a group-based SST programme integrating behavioural techniques with components targeting emotional awareness and metacognitive reflection. Sixty-eight autistic adults participated in a pre–post design. Perceived social functioning was assessed using the Social Responsiveness Scale–Second Edition (SRS-2), while anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured using the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). After correction for multiple comparisons, significant pre–post changes were observed in social motivation, state and trait anxiety, and cognitive depressive symptoms. Changes in social communication did not meet the corrected significance threshold. Exploratory analyses indicated that greater reductions in perceived social difficulties were associated with lower post-intervention depressive symptoms and trait anxiety, but not state anxiety. An association between reductions in perceived social difficulties and reductions in trait anxiety also emerged in a separate model adjusted for baseline scores. Taken together, these findings provide preliminary evidence that participation in an integrated SST programme may be associated with concurrent improvements in perceived social functioning and emotional well-being in autistic adults. Given the pre–post design and reliance on self-report measures, results should be considered preliminary and should be interpreted cautiously.