Thursday, May 20, 2010
Franklin Hall B Level 4 (Philadelphia Marriott Downtown)
2:00 PM
M. B. Minjarez
,
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine/Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford, CA
E. M. Mercier
,
School of Education, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
S. E. Williams
,
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine/Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford, CA
A. Y. Hardan
,
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine/Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford, CA
Background: Rates of autism spectrum disorders have increased in the United States, with recent data indicating that 1.1% of children are now being diagnosed with these disorders. With children being diagnosed as young as 18 months of age, the need for services is increasing. Research has demonstrated that parents can effectively deliver treatment models such as
PRT, which may also have a positive psychological impact on parents themselves. In a previous study by our group, parents were able to learn PRT procedures in a group format and their children showed correlated language gains. As parents are becoming more integrated into intervention programs there is a growing need for research to focus on the impact of such programs on parent functioning in addition to assessing child outcome measures.
Objectives: In the present study, we build upon our previous findings, and examine whether participating in a parent training PRT group influenced parent overall functioning by affecting their levels of stress and empowerment.
Methods: Seventeen families (24 parents) participated in a 10-week therapy group designed to teach parents the use of PRT, with a specific focus on child language gains. The independent variable was parent participation in a 10-week PRT parent training group. The dependent variables were, 1) Scores on the Parenting Stress Index/Short Form (PSI/SF) and 2) Scores on the Family Empowerment Scale (FES). The PSI/SF and FES were completed at baseline and post-treatment and paired samples t-tests were used to analyze changes in these dependent variables.
Results: Findings indicated that parents experienced reductions in stress and increased empowerment from baseline to post-treatment. Parents reported statistically significant reductions in stress after the therapy group as measured by changes in the Total Stress Score [t(23) = 2.84, p <.01] and the Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction subscale score [t(23) = 3.89, p <.01] of the PSI/SF. Differences between baseline and post-treatment were also observed on the PSI/SF Parent Distress [t(23) = 1.85, p =.08] and Difficult Child [t(23) = 2.02, p = .055] subscales, but did not reach statistical significance. Parents also experienced increased empowerment after the therapy group as measured by changes in the three scores derived from the FES: Family Level Empowerment [t(20) = -5.96, p <.001], Services Level Empowerment [t(20) = -4.12, p <.001] and Community Level Empowerment [t(20) = -5.4, p<.001].
Conclusions: Findings from this pilot study suggest parents experienced reductions in stress, especially as related to parent-child interactions, and increases in empowerment after participating in a PRT parent training group. These findings support that parents may experience positive psychological benefits from participating in parent education programs related to caring for their child with autism. Findings are analyzed in light of previous research on psychological functioning and coping in parents of children with disabilities. Our preliminary findings suggest that future controlled studies are warranted to further examine the efficacy of this treatment model and explore the impact on parent functioning.
