SPARTA

An autism spectrum disorder (ASD) occur in approximately 1 in 100 children. Children with an ASD struggle with communication and social interaction, and often display inflexible behaviour. In addition, many children with an ASD have behavioural problems such as tantrums, disobedience and aggressive behaviour. These problems limit optimal development of the child and make parenting even more challenging for the parents. Parent training can teach parents how to deal with their child’s behaviour, in order to reduce the behavioural problems. Research has shown that parent training works well for children with ADHD and behavioural problems. Less is known about the effect of parent training in children with ASD.

The parent training in this study focused on teaching parents skills that can be important in prevention of and responding to behavioural problems. Examples include offering structure, setting clear rules and rewarding desired behaviours. Parents participated in parent training in two ways:

• At the outpatient clinic. Parents had around 15 appointments with a therapist. This is known as face-to-face treatment, since parents and therapist are in direct contact at the outpatient clinic. At home in between the sessions, parents continue working on what they learn during the training sessions. This is equal with the normal treatment outside this research study.
• Training by means of an online treatment program. In an online environment, parents received information and completed tasks. The therapist monitored the parents'progress and if they had any questions. The therapist could also send messages to the parents in the online environment. This form of parent training also includes some appointments at the outpatient clinic, for example at the start and end of the training. Since parents received the training partly on the computer and partly at the outpatient clinic, this form of treatment is called blended training.

A total of 97 children and their parents participated in the research study. The children have been diagnosed with an ASD, are between 4 and 13 years old, and have an IQ over 50. Whether parents received parent training straight away (face-to-face or blended) or whether they received no parent training in the first 20 weeks of the study was determined by random allocation. All participants were allowed to receive other forms of care during the study. At the moment all parents have completed the parent training.

We are studying whether taking part in the parent training results in the reduction of behavioural problems in children witg an ASD. In addition, we are studying whether the parent training affects parents’ views on parenting. We are also interested in differences between face-to-face and blended parent training. For example, are there differences in parental satisfaction or the amount of time that therapists spent on the training? Finally, we investigate for which children the training is most effective. For instance, we look at the severiy of behavioural problems prior to the training.
 

For this research study, our researchers are collaborating with the mental health institution Yulius in Dordrecht.