Evaluation of the French Version of the PEERS Social Skills Training Program for Adolescents With Rare Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Evaluation of the French Version of the PEERS Social Skills Training Program for Adolescents With Rare Neurodevelopmental Disorders / PEERS-MRND

Adolescents and young adults with rare neurodevelopmental disorders are at risk of developing psychiatric pathologies during the transition to adulthood. Loneliness and lack of social relationships can lead to anxiety and depression in adolescents and young adults with rare neurodevelopmental disorders. Anxiety and depression are major risk factors for the transition to psychiatric symptoms in adulthood. The improvement of social skills and the positive evolution of social relationships in adolescents and young adults with rare neurodevelopmental disorders can lead to a reduction in the risk factors for anxiety and depression. It therefore seems essential to evaluate the evolution of social skills in this population of young adults under the care of the social skills program, PEERS, in France to assess the overall benefit of the program, particularly in this population of young people with rare neurodevelopmental disorders.

Inclusion criteria:

• Aged between 12 and 30 years, included at the start of the social skills program.
• Patients with rare neurodevelopmental diseases
• Patients benefiting from the social skills program
• Appropriate level of verbal elaboration
• Patient with a family member or a friend also participating in the social skills program

Non-inclusion criteria :

• Opposition of the patient or, if a minor, of his/her parents to participation in the study
• Patient not psychiatrically stabilized: acute symptoms of anxiety, depression, psychotic disorders.
• Severe intellectual disability