Assessing the quality of care and service trajectories in autism from families' perspective: Early intervention and interim services.
ETAP-2 is a quick, solid parent form that captures autism service quality in five minutes.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Parents need a quick way to rate autism service quality. Mello et al. (2023) built and tested a five-minute parent form called ETAP-2.
They checked if the form gives clear scores and if parents agree on what good care looks like.
What they found
ETAP-2 broke into five clean factors, like staff skill and family respect. Internal consistency was excellent.
The form also lined up well with other measures, so it really captures family views of service quality.
How this fits with other research
Långh et al. (2021) used a clinician scale, the YMQI, to show that higher EIBI quality predicts child gains. ETAP-2 gives the parent side of that same coin.
Wigham et al. (2021) reviewed trauma tools for autistic adults and found few well-checked forms. ETAP-2 now offers a brief, validated option for the preschool autism group.
Giallo et al. (2014) tracked child skill gains after one year of EIBI. ETAP-2 lets you add parent-rated service quality to those same programs, filling a gap the earlier study did not cover.
Why it matters
You can hand ETAP-2 to parents at intake and every six months. Low scores flag where to tweak staff training, scheduling, or family support before skill data even dip. It takes parents five minutes and gives you a quality line item for reports and funders.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Following the Evaluation of the Autism Trajectory for Parents - Diagnostic Services (ETAP-1), the ETAP-2 instrument was created to assess the quality of the post-diagnostic phase of the care and service trajectory of families of children with autism. The instrument, based on an integrated care perspective, was developed with the input of multiple stakeholders (parents, service providers, researchers). AIMS: This study sought to evaluate the factor structure, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of ETAP-2. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Parents (N = 197) of children recently diagnosed with autism (M = 5.1 years) were recruited from an assessment center and organizations providing early behavioral intervention and other supports for autism in the province of Québec, Canada. They completed the ETAP-2 questionnaire along with measures of satisfaction and family quality of life. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The instrument presented a five-construct structure generally consistent with previously identified dimensions of quality, except for three items previously associated with the continuity of the service trajectory. ETAP-2 had excellent internal consistency and demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity with other measures. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: ETAP-2 is a brief parent-report measure with good psychometric properties. It can assist in gathering information on families' perception and experiences with early intervention and other post-diagnostic, interim services.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2023 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104387