The AMOR Method: Resilience Training for Parents of Children With Autism

May 6, 2021 updated by: Grace Gengoux, Stanford University
We will evaluate whether a resilience training program which includes group and individual parent training will be effective in improving optimism and resiliency in parents of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). By observing the level of parent optimism and resiliency before and after intervention, we will be able to determine whether the intervention is effective in improving parent resilience.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

36

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

    • California
      • Stanford, California, United States, 94305
        • Stanford University

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

  • ADULT
  • OLDER_ADULT
  • CHILD

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Parents eligible to participate include parents: a) English-speaking, b) of a child aged 4:0 to 10:11 years, c) with a previous diagnosis of ASD and evidence of current social impairment (SRS-2) and repetitive behaviors (RBS-R), and d) who are able to consistently participate in sessions. Given budgetary constraints, direct diagnostic testing will not be feasible. Instead, child diagnostic status will be confirmed through review of the child's medical record for evidence that the child previously met ADOS criteria for ASD and shows clinically significant social impairment at baseline (SRS-2 T>65).

Parents who are not eligible to participate include parents: a) with severe psychiatric, genetic, or medical disorder among parents and/or children, b) taking psychiatric medication, and c) with elevated resilience scores at baseline (Total Score >80 on CD-RISC). The DSM-5 CCSM will be administered to parents to screen for parent mental illness. Any identified issues on the DSM-5 CCSM will be investigated further by the PI to rule out severe psychiatric disorders.

Exclusion Criteria:

a) Severe psychiatric, genetic, or medical disorder among parents and/or children, b) parents taking psychiatric medication, and c) parents with elevated resilience scores at baseline (Total Score>80 on CD-RISC). The DSM-5 Cross Cutting Symptom Measure (DSM-5 CCSM) will be administered to parents to screen for parent mental illness. Any identified issues on the DSM-5 CCSM will be investigated further by the PI to rule out severe psychiatric disorders. These families will be referred for behavioral consultation (available in our clinic) and then be reconsidered for group participation.

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: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: AMOR Method
The AMOR Method: The parent resilience training involves a series of eight weekly 90-minute group sessions, as well as three individual sessions. Group session content includes training in mindfulness, grief and loss processing, acceptance and committed actions, optimistic thinking, and resilience through the use of didactic training, group discussions, and homework assignments. Individual session content will center on additional and individualized training in grief and loss processing, optimistic thinking, and maintaining resilience over time.
The parent resilience training involves a series of eight weekly 90-minute group sessions with up to 8 parents of young children with ASD (4- 10:11 years old) per group, as well as three individual sessions.
NO_INTERVENTION: Wait List
Participants assigned to the waitlist will continue stable treatments and will be offered the opportunity to participate in the treatment after completion of the 8-week trial.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRISC) from Baseline to week 8
Time Frame: Baseline, week 8
No subscales, total score only, 25 items total, 0-4 Likert Score Range: 0-100 Low resilience score (PTSD & grief populations) = 45 or lower; Average/Normal resilience score (general population) = 45-80; High Average/Elevated resilience score (yogi & meditation teachers) = 81-100 Higher total scores reflect higher levels of resilience.
Baseline, week 8

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II) from Baseline to week 8
Time Frame: Baseline, week 8
No subscales, total score only, 10 items total (3 items reverse scored) Score Range: 0-70 Low acceptance 0-22, Medium 23-47, High 48-70 Higher total scores reflect higher levels of optimism.
Baseline, week 8
Change in Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) from Baseline to week 8
Time Frame: Baseline, week 8
No subscales, total score only, 15 items total Score Range: 15-90 Low mindfulness score = 30 or lower; Average/Normal mindfulness score = 30-45-60; High Average/Elevated mindfulness score = 60 or higher Higher total scores reflect higher levels of dispositional mindfulness.
Baseline, week 8
Change in Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R) from Baseline to week 8
Time Frame: Baseline, week 8
No subscales, total score only, 10 items total Score Range: 0-24 Low optimism 0-8, Medium/Average Optimism 9-16, High Optimism 17-24 Higher total scores reflect higher levels of optimism.
Baseline, week 8

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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 (ACTUAL)

May 25, 2018

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

February 29, 2020

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

February 29, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 18, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2018

First Posted (ACTUAL)

May 1, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

May 7, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 6, 2021

Last Verified

May 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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