A Systematic Literature Review of Theory-of-Mind-based Interventions for Autistic Adolescents

For this review, Theory-of-Mind-based social-cognitive interventions are defined as training programs that either explicitly or implicitly target mental-state understanding (e.g., beliefs, intentions, and emotions) to support and improve social communication, pragmatic language use, and/or related functional outcomes. Following PRISMA guidelines, systematic searches were conducted in different databases and registers, including PubMed, Web of Science, CENTRAL, ERIC, EBSCOhost Academic Search Complete, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, and Springer. Arabic language studies involving autistic adolescents aged 12–18 years were also compiled from AL MANHAL as well as KU Library (the databases for which were: (1) ROAD: Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources; (2) DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals; (3) Unpaywal; Iraqi Academic Scientific Journals; Ingenta Connect, and EZB Journals). Grey Literature (theses and dissertations) was compiled from Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global. In this review, we pose the following research questions 1. What are the methodological characteristics (e.g., intervention design, duration, delivery format, implementation setting, outcome measures, adaptation choices) of group-based, Theory-of-Mind–focused social-cognitive interventions for autistic adolescents? 2. What outcome domains (e.g., social communication, pragmatic competence, social validity, and generalization or maintenance of skills) are assessed in these interventions, and what patterns emerge in reported intervention outcomes? 3. How do participants, implementers, and study characteristics (e.g., geographic location, cultural and linguistic context, and gender representation) reflect the diversity or representativity of autistic adolescents included in ToM-focused intervention research?