A systematic review of the efficacy of group social skills interventions on social functioning and social participation in children with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy

Aim

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Group social skills interventions (GSSIs) versus any comparator on social functioning in children aged 5–12 years with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy.

Background

GSSIs are an evidence-based approach to foster social skills development in children with autism spectrum disorder. Currently, limited literature exploring GSSIs in children with acquired brain injury and cerebral palsy is available.

Results

MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, clinicaltrials.gov, ICTRP and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses were systematically searched. Study screening, risk-of-bias, Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation and data extraction were performed in duplicate. Six studies were included in the narrative synthesis (one randomised controlled trial and five nonrandomised studies). Results indicate that GSSIs may increase children's social skills as measured on the Social Skills Rating System and Social Skills Questionnaire. Very low certainty evidence was found for improvements in social functioning and competence.

Conclusions

There is low certainty evidence that participation in GSSI may lead to gains in social functioning for children with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy. Given the certainty of the evidence, these results must be interpreted with caution. Only one randomised controlled trial of GSSIs for children with acquired brain injury was identified, underscoring the need for additional high-quality studies.