A systematic review of self-determination in youth and adults with autism spectrum disorder: Focusing on a pending issue

Self-determination is a necessary skill in the lives of peo-ple, with and without disabilities, that allows them to be the causal agent of their lives, thus contributing to improve their quality of life. Research on self-determination in peo-ple with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is still incipient. This paper aims to review the latest empirical studies that have carried out an intervention with the purpose of im-proving self-determination in young people with ASD. For this purpose, a systematic review was carried out following the PRISMA methodology. The search yielded six studies whose information was analyzed considering different var-iables. This review suggests promising results, despite the small number of studies, showing the usefulness of group interventions, both for the development of different skills related to self-determination and for specific aspects such as planning or problem solving. On the other hand, it is necessary to increase the number of studies in this field to obtain conclusive results.