Impact of Parenting Stress on Parents' Use of ASD Intervention Strategies

Abstract

Parent-mediated interventions (PMI) for toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are becoming increasingly more common due to their cost effectiveness and opportunities for skills generalization. Parent intervention fidelity is critical for child outcomes in PMI; however, little is known about which parent characteristics may impact parent intervention fidelity. Parenting stress may be an important first factor to explore as it has been well documented that parenting stress is higher in parents of children with ASD, and it has close links to other important factors including socio-economic status and overall parent well-being. This study, using 49 parents of children at elevated risk for developing ASD (i.e., have an older sibling with an ASD diagnosis), sought to examine if parenting stress impacted one component of parent intervention fidelity, namely parents’ use of intervention strategies, following participation in a parent-mediated intervention. Regression analyses revealed no significant impact of parenting stress on parents’ use of intervention strategies. Potential reasons that a significant relation was not found are discussed. Given the increased shift towards PMI, research should continue to examine how the role of parent characteristics interact with parent intervention fidelity so we can understand how to best serve parents as they support their children, through parent-mediated interventions.