Telehealth Coaching for Families of Children With Autism

November 15, 2017 updated by: University of Kansas Medical Center
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.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Detailed 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.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

18

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Kansas
      • Kansas City, Kansas, United States, 66160
        • Occupational Therapy Education

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

1 year to 7 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

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).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC)
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.
OPC focuses on increasing positive child-caregiver interactions and child learning opportunities in everyday routines and contexts, which positions families for improved trajectories over time. OPC capitalizes on families' strengths, while supporting caregivers in using their own resources and ideas to advance child function. Caregivers identify goals, while therapists ask reflective questions and make reflective comments, affording caregivers an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of their own current knowledge and the impact of their strategies on their children's adaptive behavior. Thus, families generate their own solutions and are ultimately responsible for carrying out the intervention and evaluating its effectiveness.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Parent Sense of Competence Scale
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Canadian Occupational Performance Measure
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Lauren Little, PhD, University of Kansas Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 6, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 6, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

October 7, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 17, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 15, 2017

Last Verified

November 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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