Resilience Intervention for Parents of Children with Autism: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial of the AMOR Method.
Jessica M SchwartzmanMaria Estefania MillanMirko UljarevicGrace W GengouxPublished in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders (2021)
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience elevated stress, yet parent-specific interventions are sparse. Thirty-five parents of children with ASD were randomized to the novel 8-week AMOR (Acceptance, Mindfulness, Optimism, Resilience) Method parent group or waitlist control group. Significant gains in resilience were reported by AMOR parents only (d = 1.42, p < 0.001, 95% CI [2.152, 10.083]). AMOR parents exhibited significant gains in stress management and reductions in mental health symptoms, along with parent-reported improvements in martial, family, and child functioning. AMOR group follow-up data showed some maintenance of treatment gains. Findings demonstrate promise for resilience interventions in parents of children with ASD. The trial was registered (clinicaltrials.gov; NCT03513419; May 1, 2018) and approved by the Stanford University Institutional Review Board.
Keyphrases
- autism spectrum disorder
- mental health
- climate change
- young adults
- intellectual disability
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- social support
- phase iii
- randomized controlled trial
- physical activity
- big data
- open label
- chronic pain
- study protocol
- double blind
- electronic health record
- machine learning
- heat stress
- deep learning
- neural network