Autism and intention attribution test: a non-verbal evaluation with comic strips

Annals of General Psychiatry

Research

Margherita Attanasio¹  Antony Bologna¹  Francesco Masedu¹  Roberto Vagnetti¹  Ilenia Le Donne¹  Monica Mazza¹  Marco Valenti² 

[1] Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, Località Coppito, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy;Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, Località Coppito, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy;Regional Reference Centre for Autism of the Abruzzo Region, Local Health Unit ASL 1, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy;

关键词: Autism spectrum disorders;    Intention attribution;    Psychometric proprieties;    Theory of Mind;    Clinical utility;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12991-023-00461-2

 received in 2023-03-07, accepted in 2023-08-03,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDespite autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and mentalization being two words often associated in the literature, the assessment of this ability in individuals with ASD in the clinical setting is still limited. Indeed, there are no standardized Theory of Mind (ToM) tests that are adaptable to different cognitive profiles, such as individuals with language poverty, and intellectual or memory impairments. This study proposes a non-verbal test (Intentions Attribution-Comic Strip Test; IA-CST) to evaluate the ability to infer the intentions of others, a basic component of ToM, in the clinical setting.MethodIn Study 1, the test was administered to 261 healthy individuals and we performed structural validation using Exploratory Graph Analysis. In Study 2, the final version of the test was administered to 32 individuals with ASD to assess the known group validity of the measure by comparing their scores with a sample of IQ-matched controls. Moreover, we performed logistic regression and ROC curve to preliminarily assess the diagnostic performance of the IA-CST.ResultsThe IA-CST resulted in a 3-dimension measure with good structural stability. Group comparison indicated that the ASD group shows significantly lower performance in intention attribution but not in inferring causal consequences. The test demonstrated known group validity and that, preliminarily, it is suitable for implementation within the clinical practice.ConclusionsThe results support the IA-CST as a valid non-verbal task for evaluating intentions attribution in the clinical setting. Difficulties in ToM are early and relevant in ASD, so assessing these aspects is valuable for structuring individualized and evidence-based interventions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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