Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41403388›Full record

ArticleAutism : the international journal of research and practice2026

'Breaking down a barrier': Autistic young people see virtual reality as a possible social support, but not a substitute for in-person interactions.

Nathan Caruana, Terry Goetz, Patrick Nalepka, Elizabeth Pellicano

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Nathan CaruanaFlinders University, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-9676-814X
Terry GoetzFlinders University, Australia.
Patrick NalepkaMacquarie University, Australia.
Elizabeth PellicanoUniversity College London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-7246-8003

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Autistic people often face challenges in face-to-face social interactions, especially in unfamiliar or high-stakes situations. Virtual reality has been proposed as a tool to support social connection by offering a more controlled and accessible environment. While previous research has focused on virtual reality-based social skills training, little is known about how autistic people experience social interactions in virtual reality. We interviewed 22 autistic young people (aged 9-22 years,

Indexed as

Autistic DisorderInterpersonal RelationsSocial InteractionSocial SupportVirtual RealityAdolescentChildFemaleHumansMaleYoung Adultautismsocial interactionvirtual realityyoung people

Identifiers

PMID41403388
PMCPMC12923628

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.