Feasibility, acceptability, and effects of a web-delivered behavioral parent training intervention for rural parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: A protocol.
Ault’s team will soon test if a 12-week phone course can train rural parents of autistic kids—no outcomes yet, but the plan lines up with earlier online wins.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ault et al. (2024) wrote a plan for a 12-week web and app course called Attend Behavior. The course will teach rural parents of autistic children how to handle behavior and build communication.
The team will test if parents like the course and can finish it. They will also look for early signs that child and parent skills improve.
What they found
This paper only shows the plan. No kids or parents have taken the course yet, so there are no results to share.
How this fits with other research
Matson et al. (2013) already showed that online lessons can teach parents imitation games that help autistic kids talk and play. Ault’s new course uses the same online idea but adds more behavior tools.
Bozkus-Genc et al. (2024) ran a 12-week parent-coaching pilot at home and saw gains in toddler social skills. Ault will test the same 12-week length, but parents will learn on a phone instead of at the kitchen table.
Yu et al. (2024) focused on Latina mothers’ mood, not child skills. Ault keeps the parent-training idea but turns the lens back on child behavior and rural access.
Why it matters
Rural families often drive hours to see a BCBA. If a phone app can give solid parent training, you can serve clients who now get nothing. Watch for Ault’s feasibility numbers—if drop-out is low and ratings are high, you’ll have a ready-made package to assign as homework between your monthly visits.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often report higher levels of stress and mental health issues. Support services and parent training programs may help buffer the effects of caring for a child with ASD. However, due to the national lack of trained ASD providers and disparity of ASD support resources available in rural areas, caregivers often go without support. A possible solution to reach caregivers in rural areas is web-based interventions. This paper describes an ongoing pilot study examining the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects on caregiver well-being and disruptive child behaviors for a web-based parent training program (Attend Behavior) for caregivers of young children (ages 2–11 years old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) living in rural areas (trial registration NCT05554198). The intervention is available on the internet as well as a downloadable app for mobile phones. Participants will be invited to use the intervention program for 12-weeks. Prior to using the program, participants will be asked to take a baseline survey assessing depressive symptoms (PROMIS Depression Short Form-6a), caregiver stress (Parenting Stress Index-Short Form), child disruptive behaviors (Home Situations Questionnaire-ASD and Aberrant Behavior Checklist). After 12-weeks, participants will be asked to complete a post-intervention survey with the same measurement scales plus questions regarding intervention acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility (Acceptability of Intervention, Intervention Appropriateness Measure, and the Feasibility of Intervention Measure). Participants are also invited to partake in a brief 1:1 interview with a study team member to give further feedback regarding the intervention. Study retention and participant app usage data will be examined. Information generated from this pilot study will be used to inform a future larger scale randomized control trial of Attend Behavior.
PLOS ONE, 2024 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0307273