Microlearning as a Concept to Optimize Integrated Services for Racially/Ethnically Diverse Families of Autistic Children

Abstract

Children on the spectrum often require both formal services and natural unpaid support from caregivers. Recent autism surveillance study in the US has reported an increase in racially/ethnically diverse autistic children (Maenner et al. in MMWR Surveillance Summaries 72(2):1, 2023). Standing at the intersection of race, disability and sometimes immigration status, racially/ethnically diverse autistic children and their caregivers face a plethora of barriers in accessing services and support. The time and effort devoted to learning this knowledge and managing services and support is significant (Brewer in Social Science & Medicine 215:61–68, 2018). As a result, families with low resources often struggle to maintain attendance once recruited to participate in parent training interventions (Carr et al. in Autism 20(6):643–652, 2016; Kasari et al. in Pediatrics, 134(1):e72–e79, 2014). Furthermore, these structural challenges can lead to elevated caregiver stress (DeLambo et al. in Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities 23:129–141, 2011; Martinez & Turnage in Issues in Mental Health Nursing 43(11):1030–1040, 2022), which in turn impacts their ability to learn new strategies and manage services (Marin et al. in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 96(4):583–595, 2011). In the current paper we propose the adoption of using microlearning concept to breakdown culturally responsive interventions into bite-sized chunks to reach caregivers juggling with caregiving and other structural challenges. We present the process of adapting Parents Taking Action, a community-based culturally appropriate intervention targeting racially/ethnically diverse families of young autistic children, using the microlearning approach. We further discuss how the microlearning concept can be applied and its limitations.