Telehealth Coaching for Families of Children With Autism

University of Kansas

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorders

Treatments: Behavioral: Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02928068

STUDY00002264

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of a 12 week telehealth intervention for families of children with autism spectrum disorders under the age of 6 years on child participation and parent efficacy.

Full description

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are increasingly being diagnosed in children, creating a pressing need for effective and cost-efficient models of early intervention (EI) services. Many EI systems are struggling to meet the needs of the increasing number of families of children with ASD. In rural areas, there is a shortage of EI therapists, and the distances to reach families results in an inefficient use of professional time and research shows that rural families of children with ASD receive fewer EI services, which has detrimental effects on children's developmental trajectories. If occupational therapy interventions for young children with ASD utilize innovative methods of service delivery in rural areas, investigators can increase the number of families that receive services thereby positively influencing child and family outcomes. Therefore, investigators propose to test the acceptability, cost-effectiveness, and efficacy of a 12 week telehealth intervention for families of young children with ASD.

Enrollment: 18 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 12 to 84 months old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Family with a child up to 72 months old with a diagnosis of ASD and primarily spoke English in the home.

Exclusion criteria

• Child has significant visual or hearing impairments or has a known genetic condition associated with autism (e.g., Fragile X Syndrome).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

18 participants in 1 patient group

Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC)

Experimental group

Description:

This group received approximately 12 sessions of the telehealth intervention. The intervention consisted of parent-therapist conversations via telehealth to increase child function and participation.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC)