# Validation of a novel measurement battery of relationship and safety skills for adults with and without autism spectrum disorder

> **NIH NIH R34** · BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL · 2024 · $245,759

## Abstract

In this study, we seek to improve assessment of critical safety and relationship skill domains by developing and
validating a novel measurement battery. Sensitive and objective tools that assess these domains are extremely
limited. This lack of established measurement tools poses a critical challenge to studies of the efficacy and
effectiveness of important safety interventions and relationship skill protocols, especially for populations uniquely
vulnerable to negative outcomes, such as adults on the autism spectrum (AA). The financial, emotional, and
physical costs of failing to adequately prepare individuals to navigate relationships safely and effectively has
been demonstrated across many diagnoses. Effectively measuring related behaviors—such as navigating
public/private boundaries, recognizing when others are interested in a relationship, determining the
trustworthiness of potential partners, judging situations for safety, using indirect communication, and taking the
perspective of others—is a critical task needed to accurately characterize the challenges of AA and other adults
with social difficulties and to track progress both over time and in response to adult social skills interventions.
We propose a battery of performance-based tools that target these skill domains via behavioral, eye tracking,
and psychophysiological responses to social information. The strength of this battery is the objectivity of the
chosen tools (e.g., behavioral responses, tracking eye movements, and heart rate) and their ecological validity
(i.e., mimicking everyday experiences such as using the internet, navigating dating apps, and engaging in various
types of relationships). The total length of the proposed project is three years. The measurement battery will be
presented at two time points (3 months apart) to a total of 200 adults (100 AA, 100 adults without autism). We
have three aims: (1) To examine the feasibility of acquisition of the proposed measures for AA; (2) To assess
the utility of the measurement battery for assessing social difficulties of the AA and non-ASD groups, and (3) To
validate the measures for use in clinical trials by examining (3a) their short term stability, (3b) convergent validity
with a measure of general social functioning, and (3c) demonstrate their utility as measures of target engagement
by confirming their correlation to outcome measures of romantic and sexual functioning. Achieving these aims
will provide a novel toolkit for investigators to use to measure social cognitive, behavioral, and physiological
changes in response to intervention programs for AA and, ultimately, populations with similar safety and
relationship skills deficits (e.g., intellectual disability, ADHD, social anxiety, schizophrenia).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10890002
- **Project number:** 5R34MH127065-03
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Eileen Tara Crehan
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $245,759
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-08-20 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10890002

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10890002, Validation of a novel measurement battery of relationship and safety skills for adults with and without autism spectrum disorder (5R34MH127065-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10890002. Licensed CC0.

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