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The current pilot randomized clinical trial study aims to examine (1) the acceptability of the Autism Mentorship Program (AMP) and (2) the preliminary effectiveness of AMP in improving mentees\u2019 well-being and reducing symptoms of mental health problems.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Participants included 24 autistic youth, 24 caregivers of autistic youth, and 12 autistic adults. Youth (ages 14\u201318) were randomized to AMP or services-as-usual (SAU), with 13 randomized into AMP. AMP included 23 weekly online mentoring sessions during which autistic mentors and autistic adolescents met in 1-to-1 meetings and discussed topics related to social-emotional learning or shared interests or engaged in an activity of their choosing. Youth, caregivers and autistic mentors completed pre- and post-program assessments related to satisfaction, mental health, and psychosocial outcomes. Analyses focused on descriptive trends and effect sizes due to limited power.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Participants in AMP reported high program satisfaction and strong mentoring relationships. Compared to youth in SAU, AMP youth showed improvements in self-esteem, satisfaction with self, perceived social support, and engagement, with small to moderate effect sizes. Mentees also reported trends toward reduced anxiety and depression.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>AMP is a feasible, acceptable, and potentially effective identity-affirming program for autistic adolescents. Findings support further evaluation in larger trials to establish its utility as a scalable, community-based mental health support within autistic communities.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-026-07272-w","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,3]],"date-time":"2026-03-03T09:58:11Z","timestamp":1772531891000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Autism Mentorship Program"],"prefix":"10.1007","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6456-9835","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rebekah L.","family":"Hudock","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5194-113X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Meredith","family":"Gunlicks-Stoessel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6697-0884","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jinyi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haoran","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anya","family":"Congreve","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shayna","family":"Williams","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-3716-3371","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Connor","family":"Petricek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emily","family":"Goldberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jeannette Dempsey","family":"Austin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A. 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