Development and utility of the Family-Centered Autism Navigation interview.
Family navigators can open with a four-goal interview that turns a tense diagnosis day into a team plan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors built a short interview guide for family navigators. It has four goals: learn the family's story, name their needs, pick top priorities, and map next steps.
Navigators can use it right after an autism diagnosis. The paper shows how they wrote and re-wrote the questions, but it does not give outcome data.
What they found
The team ended with a semi-structured script that keeps the talk centered on the caregiver's own words. No scores or child gains are reported.
How this fits with other research
Sánchez-Luquez et al. (2025) looked at 17 navigation studies and saw the same gap: tools help families get services, yet no one has shown child skill gains. The new interview lands squarely in that gap.
Bourque et al. (2025) went further. They asked low-resource families what navigators should cover. Their list — knowledge gaps, peer support, money help — fits neatly inside the four goals of the Kris tool.
Ho et al. (2014) heard parents call the diagnostic path 'fragmented.' A ready-made interview like this could patch the communication holes they found.
Why it matters
You now have a one-page script to run a first caregiver meeting that feels planned, not rushed. Use it to co-write a short action list before the family leaves the diagnosis room. You still need to track later child gains, but you will start the relationship on shared goals instead of paperwork.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
When a parent learns of their child's autism diagnosis, they may be overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated. Family navigation services are designed to improve access to care. While these services are a promising intervention to enhance well-being and developmental outcomes, there are limited tools that can systematically facilitate the development of a shared navigation plan that prioritizes the concerns of the family. The Family-Centered Autism Navigation semi-structured interview guide is designed for family navigators to triage and prioritize caregiver's needs to coordinate and navigate systems of care after learning of their child's autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. The goals of the Family-Centered Autism Navigation interview are to (1) identify family and child strengths; (2) identify family/caregiver concerns regarding navigation of services and systems following their child's diagnosis of autism; (3) measure change in caregiver knowledge, ability and skill as it relates to understanding, remembering, and evaluating information they receive; and (4) assist with the development of a shared navigation plan. When using the Family-Centered Autism Navigation guide, family navigators and caregivers co-create a family-centered, prioritized action plan that supports and prepares caregivers as they navigate systems of care. This short report describes the development process of the Family-Centered Autism Navigation semi-structured interview guide. We utilized brief interviews (n = 42), expert feedback (n = 13), and quality improvement strategies (n = 2 family navigators) to develop the questions and determine the usability of the Family-Centered Autism Navigation interview in practice.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2021 · doi:10.1177/1362361320972890