Parent and Family Factors Related to Children's Progress in Intensive Behavioural Intervention

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between parent and family demographic, psychosocial, and involvement factors and the progress of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI). Children’s cognitive rates of development and parents’ perceptions of children’s progress were used to measure children’s progress in IBI. Demographic (socioeconomic status, marital status, maternal employment, and having other children with disabilities), psychosocial (parent distress, and coping), and involvement (parent involvement in IBI, and self-efficacy surrounding involvement) factors were related to children’s progress in various ways. Specifically, maternal employment, and parental involvement in IBI were predictors of increased cognitive rates of development, and coping was a predictor of increased parental perceptions of children’s progress. Clinical implications include empirical evidence for encouraging parents to be involved in their children’s treatment, along with evidence supporting maternal employment.