Building Bridges Triple P: Pilot study of a behavioural family intervention for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Boxum et al. (2018) tested a new Triple P flavor called Building Bridges Triple P (BBTP). The program ran for eight weeks in small groups of parents who have teens with autism.

Each week parents learned behavior tools and shared stories. No control group was used; the team simply asked parents to fill out surveys before, after, and again three months later.

Parents said their teens’ problem behaviors dropped. They also felt more confident and less stressed.

The gains were larger at the three-month check than right after the last class, hinting that skills kept working once families were back home.

Hahlweg et al. (2008) tried a lighter Triple P dose: a booklet plus seven short phone calls for parents of preschoolers. That study also saw small behavior drops, showing even low-cost formats can help.

Allen et al. (2016) ran an eight-session problem-solving group for moms of newly diagnosed young children. Like BBTP, it cut parent distress with no control group, suggesting group support itself may be the active ingredient.

Samadi et al. (2013) delivered seven generic support sessions to Iranian ASD parents and found the same stress relief. The pattern across studies implies any structured parent group, not just Triple P, can boost well-being.

If you serve families with autistic teens, BBTP gives you a ready-made eight-week curriculum that parents actually like. You can run it in a clinic meeting room or online, no fancy gear needed. Start by screening teen behavior stress with a quick parent rating; if scores are high, offer the next BBTP cohort and track the same measure at week eight and month three. The data so far say you will likely see calmer houses and more confident caregivers without adding one-to-one therapy hours.