Effectiveness of social skills intervention for the management of children with autism spectrum disorder A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: This study will investigate the effectiveness of and safety of social skills intervention (SSI) for the management of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: All potential randomized controlled trials related to the effectiveness and safety of SSI for children with ASD will be retrieved from Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. All these databases will be identified from inception to the present with no limitations of language and publication time. Two investigators will independently perform selection of study, data collection, and study quality assessment, respectively. A third investigator will help to solve any different views between 2 investigators. RevMan 5.3 software will be used for data pooling and statistical analysis. Results: This study will provide synthesis of present evidence on assessing the effectiveness and safety of SSI for children with ASD. Conclusion: This study will provide helpful references for the effectiveness and safety of SSI on the management of ASD, which may benefit both patients and clinicians. Study registration number: INPLASY202040090.