Parent Outcomes Following Participation in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Autistic Children in a Community Setting

Parents of autistic children are at higher risk for mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and stress. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) that targets children’s emotion regulation problems may have an indirect influence on parent outcomes, especially if they play a supporting role in the intervention. However, the majority of the implemented CBT interventions were carried out in highly controlled research settings and no study has examined the parent outcomes of child-focused CBT in a community setting. The current study examined parent outcomes (i.e., mental health, mindful parenting and parenting practices) following a community-based CBT program with concurrent parent involvement for autistic children, as well as associations between parent and child outcomes (i.e., autism symptoms and emotion dysregulation) using change scores. Participants included 77 parent-child dyads across 7 community organizations in Ontario, Canada. Parents reported improved mindful parenting and positive parenting practices post intervention, and no significant change for their mental health. Multiple mediation analyses revealed that parent positive changes were associated with child positive changes in emotion regulation, with changes in parenting practices mediating the relationship between mindful parenting and child emotion regulation. This research suggests mutual beneficial outcome for all the stakeholders including children, parents, community organizations and public policy.