The BRIDGE Collaborative is an interdisciplinary team of researchers, community providers, funding agency representatives, and families of San Diego County. In 2010, the Collaborative conducted a pilot study to examine the feasibility of implementing an evidence-based parent education program (Teaching Social Communication) for young children (12-24 months) at-risk for ASD. This poster presents parent satisfaction data collected as part of that study. The intervention involved community therapists training parents over twelve weeks to implement naturalistic behavioral and developmental treatment-strategies with their child (15 families enrolled, 13 completed). Child cognitive and parent self-reported outcome measures were collected pre and post program enrollment. An additional 27-item open-ended exit interview captured parent satisfaction with the intervention as well as specific areas of benefit and concern. Parent responses to this interview were coded using a Likert scale (1-3) by two independent researchers (inter-rater reliability >89%). Overall, parents reported a high rate of satisfaction with the intervention with a mean of 40 from a possible 45 total (range 34-44), with greater values indicating higher satisfaction. Themes identified from the qualitative included feelings of increased confidence with child-parent interactions, and critical feedback about supplementary reading material and assignments outside of the clinic. Results from this study will inform a larger-scale study of intervention effectiveness scheduled to begin in Spring 2013.
