Autism or the Autism Spectrum disorders - ASD - are neurodevelopmental disorders with a range of clinical presentations, function and outcome. Individuals with autism present difficulties with regard to verbal and non-verbal social communication and interaction and restrictive or repetitive interests, behaviors or movements. The severity of the challenges and the level of function may vary substantially, ranging from individuals necessitating limited support to persons with restricted autonomy. The role of the family is crucial for meeting globally the needs of autistic persons: parents, constitute the main supportive and continuous care provision system, while ensuring efficient collaboration with the health and education professionals caring for their child. Raising a child with autism is stressful for the parents and the broader family. Parental training is one of the factors enabling the optimal adaptation of parents to their child’s autism diagnosis, their ability to support the treatment and collaborate constructively with the respective professionals. Parental training is known to provide knowledge about the disorder, to enhance parental skills, to decrease parental stress and improve the self-perceived quality of life. The Objectives of our project are: 1. To train parents with an autistic child, in order to decrease the parental stress and improve their quality of life 2. To create an Integrative Parents’ Autism Training-IPAT module and a digital self -training Tool- IPATT, to be used by professionals and parents, respectively. Sixty four parents of individuals with ASD, without prejudice to the age of the child, the function or the degree of autonomy, from 4 partner countries- Greece, Spain, Italy and Turkey -will participate in the Parents’ Training activity. The needs assessment will incorporate the results from the literature review and the needs identified in the parents’ focus groups, to be held in all partner countries. An Integrative Parents’ Autism Training module –IPAT- will be consequently developed and will be used for the creation of the training material and the Parents’ Training activity. The Activity consists of 24 training hours, delivered in sessions of 90-120’ over 6 months. The content of the module will be adapted in order to produce the Integrative Parents’ Autism self- Training digital Tool – IPATT. The IPATT addresses the refreshment of already acquired knowledge and skills or the initiation to parental training. The 64 participants of the Parents’ Training Activity and 24 additional training naïve parents will test the IPATT. Measuring the parental stress and the self-perceived Quality of life before and after the Parents’ Training activity will assess the short-term effectiveness of the IPAT Module. A participants ‘ satisfaction survey will measure their satisfaction with the Module and the self- Training digital Tool, as well as the perceived usefulness of the latter. The Intellectual outputs of the project: Needs Assessment, Integrative Parents’ Autism Training module –IPAT, Integrative Parents’ Autism self- Training digital Tool – IPATT and the results of the study to document the impact for participants, will be made available to the scientific community, the service providers, the parents’ organizations, the media and the municipal and state authorities. Our aim is to increase awareness about the role and the importance of the parental training in the global management of the needs of autistic people, to increase accessibility to effective training and to motivate parents to use a valid self -training approach at different stages of life. The longer term benefits of the project refer to advocating for the rights and social inclusion of the individuals with autism and eliminating stigma for them and their family.
The Objectives of the Project were: 1. To train parents with an autistic child, in order to: a. Increase their knowledge & skills, with regard to the disorder & the management of behaviors of concern b. Modify their attitudes against social exclusion & stigma & increase the parental resilience c. Decrease the parental stress & improve their perceived quality of life. d. Support their active seeking behavior for the fulfillment of their perceived remaining needs, at different life stages. 2. To create an Integrated Parents’ Autism Training-IPAT module & a digital self -training Tool- IPATT, in order to: a. Enable professionals to use the module in their professional practice for the parents’ training b. Provide parents with an accessible self-education digital tool, able to support them to refresh or initiate training c. Improve the care provided by the parents to their autistic
Training of the parents of autistic children is known to provide knowledge about the disorder, to enhance parental skills for improving the communication with their child & the management of behaviors that cause concern. Also, it can substantially contribute so as to modify the parental attitudes towards the person’s challenges, against social isolation & stigma & for promoting the generation of realistic expectations from the parents’ side. Training is also known to positively contribute to developing parental self-esteem, the efficiency of their parental role, to decreasing parental stress & improving the self-perceived quality of life. Longer programs (minimum 12 sessions) & those addressing the transition periods (childhood to adolescence & to adult life, respectively) are considered more effective than shorter ones.