Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the WHO Caregiver Skills Training in Public Health Services in Italy

Published 2021-10-22 From Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 13 authors

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Attribution

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Abstract

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Parents of children with ASD (N = 86; mean age 44.8 months; 67 boys) were randomized to either WHO Caregiver Skills Training (CST) delivered in public health settings in Italy or enhanced treatment-as-usual. Primary blinded outcomes were 3-months post-intervention change scores of autism severity and engagement during caregiver-child interaction. CST was highly acceptable to caregivers and feasibly delivered by trained local clinicians. Intention-to-treat analysis showed a large and significant effect on parent skills supporting joint engagement and a smaller significant effect on flow of interaction. Expected changes in child autism severity and joint engagement did not meet statistical significance. Analysis of secondary outcomes showed a significant effect on parenting stress, self-efficacy, and child gestures. Strategies to improve the effectiveness of CST are discussed.

Authors

E. Salomone
Michele Settanni
H. McConachie
K. Suma
F. Ferrara
Giulia Foletti
A. Salandin
Felicity L. Laura Stephanie Brown Pacione Shire
F. Brown
Laura Pacione
Stephanie Y. Shire
C. Servili
L. Adamson

Keywords

Medicine
Psychology

Citation: E. Salomone, Michele Settanni, H. McConachie , et al. (2021). Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the WHO Caregiver Skills Training in Public Health Services in Italy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Semantic Scholar ID ae5bfb59f55cc2e4eeee8e088653113a63b92b91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05297-x ↗