Effects of a parent advocacy intervention on service access for transition-aged autistic youth: a multisite randomized controlled trial.

IF 7 1区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Pub Date : 2025-08-17 DOI:10.1111/jcpp.70036

Julie Lounds Taylor, Leann Smith DaWalt, Meghan M Burke, Meng Xu, James C Slaughter

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Autistic youth in the United States face many challenges accessing services as they transition to adulthood. Improving parents' ability to advocate for services is a promising way to improve service access. The current study tested whether participation in an intervention to improve parents' ability to advocate for adult services (called Advocating for Supports to Improve Service Transitions or ASSIST) led to increased service access for their transition-aged autistic youth.

Methods: Using a multisite, single-blind parallel-group design, we randomized 185 parents of transition-aged autistic youth to either a treatment condition that received the ASSIST intervention, or a control condition that received comprehensive written information about adult services. Primary outcomes for this report - number of government programs that fund services and direct services received by the youth - were collected via parental interview at baseline, six, and 12 months after intervention.

Results: Primary analyses found no significant treatment effects on service access. Subgroup analyses, however, detected treatment effects for families of youth who had exited high school prior to their families taking ASSIST. Among those families, youth from the treatment group were receiving more government programs that fund services at 6 months after intervention compared with youth from the control group.

Conclusions: We cannot conclude from our findings that ASSIST improved access to services, though there was some evidence to suggest increased access to government programs that fund services for families of autistic youth who had exited high school. Future research should investigate which families can translate written information about adult services (i.e. the control condition) into improved service access, and which families need more individualized support beyond a group-based class to see improvements in service access.

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父母倡导干预对过渡年龄自闭症青少年服务获取的影响：一项多地点随机对照试验。

背景：美国的自闭症青年在向成年过渡的过程中面临着许多获得服务的挑战。提高家长倡导服务的能力是改善服务获取的一种有希望的方式。目前的研究测试了参与一项干预措施，以提高父母倡导成人服务的能力（称为倡导支持改善服务过渡或ASSIST），是否会增加过渡年龄自闭症青少年获得服务的机会。方法：采用多地点、单盲平行组设计，我们将185名过渡年龄自闭症青少年的父母随机分为两组，一组接受ASSIST干预的治疗组，另一组接受有关成人服务的全面书面信息的对照组。本报告的主要结果是通过在干预后的基线、6个月和12个月对父母的访谈收集了资助服务和直接服务的政府项目的数量。结果：初步分析发现治疗对服务可及性无显著影响。然而，亚组分析发现，在家庭服用ASSIST之前，高中毕业的青少年家庭的治疗效果。在这些家庭中，与对照组的青少年相比，治疗组的青少年在干预后6个月接受了更多的政府资助服务项目。结论：我们不能从我们的发现中得出结论，ASSIST改善了获得服务的机会，尽管有一些证据表明，为高中毕业的自闭症青少年家庭提供资金服务的政府项目增加了机会。未来的研究应该调查哪些家庭可以将关于成人服务的书面信息（即控制条件）转化为改善的服务获取，哪些家庭需要更多的个性化支持，而不是以团体为基础的班级，以看到服务获取的改善。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

13.80

自引率

5.30%

发文量

169

审稿时长

1 months

期刊介绍： The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) is a highly regarded international publication that focuses on the fields of child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry. It is recognized for publishing top-tier, clinically relevant research across various disciplines related to these areas. JCPP has a broad global readership and covers a diverse range of topics, including: Epidemiology: Studies on the prevalence and distribution of mental health issues in children and adolescents. Diagnosis: Research on the identification and classification of childhood disorders. Treatments: Psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological interventions for child and adolescent mental health. Behavior and Cognition: Studies on the behavioral and cognitive aspects of childhood disorders. Neuroscience and Neurobiology: Research on the neural and biological underpinnings of child mental health. Genetics: Genetic factors contributing to the development of childhood disorders. JCPP serves as a platform for integrating empirical research, clinical studies, and high-quality reviews from diverse perspectives, theoretical viewpoints, and disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach is a key feature of the journal, as it fosters a comprehensive understanding of child and adolescent mental health. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry is published 12 times a year and is affiliated with the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), which supports the journal's mission to advance knowledge and practice in the field of child and adolescent mental health.