An Exploratory Analysis of Child Characteristics Predicting Clinical Outcomes in Parent-Led Cognitive Behavioral Teletherapy for Anxiety in Autistic Children.
Williams-syndrome intervention papers almost never report race, income, or language—so start adding these lines to your participant tables today.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors read every Williams-syndrome intervention paper they could find.
They checked whether each study said the child’s race, family income, or home language.
Eleven papers were reviewed; age and sex were always listed, but race, ethnicity, and money details were almost always missing.
What they found
Most reports left out race, ethnicity, and social class.
The samples that did report race were mostly White and young.
Without these facts we cannot tell if the treatments help all families equally.
How this fits with other research
Jones et al. (2020) saw the same gap in JABA: race and income lines are blank in most tables.
Nastasi et al. (2023) found the same in OBM journals.
All three audits agree: our field keeps forgetting to name who was studied.
Why it matters
If we do not list race, income, or language, we cannot spot disparities.
Next time you write a paper or a grant, add a small table: race, ethnicity, SES, first language.
It takes one extra paragraph and moves the field toward fair, useful science.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: This study describes participant diversity in Williams syndrome (WS) intervention studies. METHODS: A literature search was conducted to identify prospective treatment studies including participants with WS. Data was extracted on the reporting of and information provided on age, sex, cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity. RESULTS: Eleven eligible articles were identified. Reporting rates of demographic factors varied considerably, with the highest rates for age and sex (100%) and the lowest reporting rates for race (18%) and ethnicity (9%). Combining demographic data from the two studies that reported on race and/or ethnicity (n = 33), 88% of participants were White. The combined participant mean age was 20.9 years. CONCLUSION: There is a low frequency of reporting on several demographic factors including socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity in WS intervention studies. There is a need for increased representation of racial and ethnic minority groups, older participants, and more cognitively impaired patients in WS research.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2024 · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.4160