Caregiver Skills Training: Comparing Clinician Training Methods (CST)

University of Pittsburgh

Status: Terminated

Conditions: Parenting

Treatments: Behavioral: Caregiver Skills Training (CST)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06038799

STUDY23040076

Details and patient eligibility

About

Caregiver Skills Training (CST) is an evidence-based intervention for parents of young children with developmental disabilities that was developed through a collaboration between Autism Speaks and the World Health Organization. The intervention is typically offered by Facilitators who are trained and supervised by CST Master Trainers. This study seeks to use a remote training model to compare two training and supervision processes. One group, comprised of facilitators from rural settings, will be trained and supervised by two master trainers from the University of Pittsburgh using a remote training model. A second group, comprised of facilitators from an agency serving primarily low-income households and located near Pittsburgh, will be trained and supervised in a face-to-face manner. Both groups will initially receive ten 90-minute training sessions over a 2-month period and will subsequently receive 1 hour per week of supervision while conducting their first 12-session CST group. Outcome measures will include assessment of change in caregiver stress and didactic skills as well as improvement in each child's communication/social skills, functional skills, and overall behavior. Also added was an additional research question in which face-to-face CST sessions with remote CST sessions were compared.

Full description

There are two aspects to this study: First, the investigators will compare two training and supervision processes. One group, comprised of facilitators from rural settings, will be trained and supervised by two master trainers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Center for Autism and Developmental Disorders (CADD). A second group, comprised of facilitators from an agency serving primarily low-income households and located near Pittsburgh, PA, will be trained and supervised in a face-to-face manner. Both groups will receive 15 hours of training spread over the course of 2-3 months (in summer 2023). The focus of these sessions will be to introduce and train staff on the CST model, ensure their understanding of the curriculum, and to help them gain proficiency in administration. During the training phase, both groups will practice administration of activities and will be provided feedback. The master trainers will also assist the newly trained facilitators in navigating recruitment and organization of their first CST groups. Upon initiation of the CST groups, facilitators will receive 1 hour of supervision per week, either in person or via TEAMS. Supervision will extend over the 9 group sessions and 3 home visits per family (fall 2023). These supervision sessions will allow the facilitators to ask questions, obtain feedback, and troubleshoot any challenges. The investigators will also collect pre and post measures (baseline and week 12) from the parents participating in the CST groups to determine if the type of training provided to the facilitators (face-to-face versus remote) impacted parent progress. We have also added an additional research question in which we compare face-to-face CST sessions with remote CST sessions.

Enrollment: 22 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Parents who

• Have a child ages 2-9 with a developmental disability and/or autism
• Able to be served by one of the three UPMC sites
• Able to attend 12 sessions. Group sessions are at the clinic site and the individual sessions may be done virtually or in person.

Exclusion criteria

• Parent()s does not speak / understand English. Given the nature of this study, we are unable to provide translation services.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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22 participants in 2 patient groups

Remote staff training

Active Comparator group

Description:

Staff will receive 15 hours of remote training followed by 12 weeks of remote supervision (one hour per week).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Caregiver Skills Training (CST)

Face to face staff training

Active Comparator group

Description:

Staff will receive 15 hours of face to face training followed by 12 weeks of face to face supervision (one hour per week).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Caregiver Skills Training (CST)