Abstract
BackgroundVarious parent training interventions have been shown to have some effect on the symptoms of children with autism. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analyses to assess effectiveness of parental training for children with autism on their symptoms and parental stress.MethodsFour electronic databases, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO were searched until March 2020 for relevant literature. Two reviewers independently screened bibliographies using an eligibility checklist and extracted data using a structured proforma. We have also carried out meta-analyses when data were available for pooling.ResultsSeventeen papers from 15 studies were included for data analysis. Fifteen papers showed a positive treatment effect when compared with the control group, although not always significant. Meta-analysis based on pooled data from only two studies in each respective intervention, showed small to moderate treatment effects for three interventions, DIR/Floortime, Pivotal Response and Parent focused training respectively.ConclusionsAs in previous systematic reviews there was a mild to moderate treatment effects of three specific types of interventions respectively. However, it was difficult to draw any definitive conclusion about the effectiveness and generalisability of any intervention because of the wide variation in the interventions, control groups, outcome measures, small sample size, small number of studies in meta-analysis, overlap between the intervention and control procedures used in the included studies. There is an urgent need for experts in various international centres to jointly standardise a parent training intervention for children with autism and carry out a large scale RCT to assess its clinical and economic effectiveness.Research Registry Unique Identifying Number: reviewregistry915.
Highlights
Various parent training interventions have been shown to have some effect on the symptoms of children with autism
Interpretation of this evidence is difficult due to the variety of comparators and outcome measures used in the trials, as well as the diversity of the interventions included in the clinical effectiveness systematic reviews in terms of the number of intervention sessions, duration of each session and varied components included in different interventions
Our aim was to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis of published English language studies to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of parent training interventions for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on children’s ASD core symptoms, associated behaviours such as challenging behaviour and sleep problems, and parental stress, knowledge and confidence in dealing with their children’s behaviour
Summary
Various parent training interventions have been shown to have some effect on the symptoms of children with autism. The guidelines recommend that social-communication programmes may be of help to children with autism, with social isolation. Interpretation of this evidence is difficult due to the variety of comparators and outcome measures used in the trials, as well as the diversity of the interventions included in the clinical effectiveness systematic reviews in terms of the number of intervention sessions, duration of each session and varied components included in different interventions. Previous reviews of education/training/intervention involving parents of young and school age children with ASD can be considered around specific themes, namely (a) effect on children’s ASD core symptoms, (b) effect on associated symptoms such as challenging behaviour, sleep problems etc., and (c) effect on parental stress, knowledge and confidence in dealing with their children’s behaviour
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