Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and St. Joseph’s University announced on May 6 that a new virtual reality intervention has been shown to improve interactions between autistic teens and adults and law enforcement officers. The findings, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, suggest that brief, focused interventions could help support the transition from adolescence into adulthood for those in the autism community.
The study addresses concerns over negative outcomes during police encounters involving people with psychiatric or physical disabilities, including autism. Many autistic individuals face challenges reading social cues or interacting with strangers, which can become more difficult during unexpected encounters with police. Higher rates of police contact among autistic people have led to increased fear and anxiety about these situations.
Julia Parish-Morris, PhD, senior study author and principal investigator at the Center for Autism Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said: “Using mobile virtual reality is a great way to engage people and provide a flexible, personalized opportunity to practice specific skills. But we also felt it was very important to test the efficacy of our trial using a practical and generalizable outcome measure, which was a live interaction with a real police officer. Our findings show that this intervention can provide autistic individuals with generalizable skills and tools to help keep them safe.”
The clinical trial involved 47 autistic participants aged 12 to 60 who were assigned either the Floreo Police Safety Module virtual reality intervention or BeSAFE The Movie video modeling intervention. Both groups completed three in-person sessions lasting 45 minutes each over an average span of nine days. The researchers found that both groups used their new skills during interactions with officers; however, those in the virtual reality group fidgeted less during live interactions after completing the program compared to before.
First author Joseph P. McCleery, PhD of St. Joseph’s University said: “As Dr. Parish-Morris described, the live police interaction was such an important part of this study. This would not have been possible without the tremendous cooperation we had from the Philadelphia Police Department… Their efforts helped us document the real-world impact of the intervention for autistic teens and adults.”
The research received support from a National Institutes of Health Small Business Technology Transfer grant.
