2024 Volume 32 Issue 2 Pages 72-83
Objective: Individuals with a high Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) tendency often experience difficulties in interpersonal relationships, such as difficulty in identifying the feelings of others, considering others, and understanding implicit rules. This study aimed to develop a training program designed to improve social and communication skills based on BAP levels.
Methods: Pre-post evaluation design study was conducted. The four-week program, which included a card game for speaking and listening, gesture games, comics for completing stories, and self-disclosure among participants was developed and administered to 22 female students from the first and second grades of two nursing universities. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted before and after the program, using a Japanese version of the BAP questionnaire. The Kikuchi’s Scale of Social Skills (KiSS-18) and Scale of Communication Skills (ENDCOREs) were also used. The participants were divided into two groups based on BAP tendency (high and low groups).
Results: Following the program, scores for skills in replacing attacks, a KiSS-18 subscale; and scores for skills in accepting others (an ENDCOREs subscale), significantly increased in the low BAP tendency group. Total KiSS-18 scores, scores for skills in replacing attacks, expression, and self-assertion, (i.e., ENDCOREs subscales), significantly increased in the high BAP tendency group.
Conclusions: The program improved social and communication skills in both groups, with greater improvement observed in the high BAP tendency group.
