Effects of remote support courses on parental mental health and child development in autism: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: Sustaining the mental health of autistic children's parents can be demanding.

Aim: To determine the effect of remote support courses on the mental health of parents and the development of autistic children.

Methods: Parents of 140 autistic children were randomly assigned to two groups receiving a 2-week intervention: The control group received caregiver-mediated intervention (CMI); the experimental group received CMI with remote family psychological support courses (R-FPSC). The Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were used to measure parents' mental health. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale and Gesell Developmental Schedules were used to evaluate children's development.

Results: Improved parenting stress, sense of competence, depression, and anxiety were found in both groups, but improvements in parenting stress (81.10 ± 19.76 vs 92.10 ± 19.26, P < 0.01) and sense of competence (68.83 ± 11.23 vs 63.91 ± 10.86, P < 0.01) were greater in the experimental group, although the experimental group showed no significant reduction in depression or anxiety. Children's development did not differ significantly between the groups at follow-up; however, experimental group parents exhibited a short-term increase in training enthusiasm (12.78 ± 3.16 vs 11.57 ± 3.15, P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Integrating R-FPSC with CMI may be effective in reducing parenting stress, enhancing parents' sense of competence, and increasing parents' training enthusiasm.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Caregiver-mediated intervention; Family psychological intervention; Parenting sense of competence; Parenting stress.