Developing ecologically valid parent education for families living with autism in a part of Europe

Autism can challenge traditional parenting styles, causing parents to feel deskilled and disempowered, especially when little information or support is available to them. The provision of accurate information about autism and... [ view full abstract ]

Autism can challenge traditional parenting styles, causing parents to feel deskilled and disempowered, especially when little information or support is available to them. The provision of accurate information about autism and teaching parents how to adapt their parenting using good autism practice has been shown to be effective in improving personal, educational and social outcomes for individuals with autism and their families. However though parent education programmes exist in parts of Europe, in others they are extremely limited or non-existent.

This presentation reports on a three year project (September 2015-August 2018), funded by the European Commission, in which family members, professionals and academics from five European countries are working together in a strategic partnership to develop parent education in a part of Europe. This partnership is seeking to:
• develop a core curriculum and ecologically valid parent education materials and methods
• provide parent education to families living with autism in countries where such provision been unavailable or extremely limited
• evaluate impact using quantitative and qualitative methods
• share the curriculum and materials with stakeholders, and make recommendations to decision makers

We report on the project’s first year.
Barriers to participation and differing priorities regarding parent education in the three countries are identified.
The curriculum and training methods and materials are outlined.
Evaluation methods and tools are discussed
And experiences and data from the first parent courses (held in Spring 2016) are shared.

This is a work in progress. We value this opportunity to present our work and receive feedback.

This research is carried out in accordance with the partner universities' ethical guidelines and in accordance with the British Education Research Association Ethical Guidelines (2011). Ethical approval for the project and for... [ view full abstract ]

This research is carried out in accordance with the partner universities' ethical guidelines and in accordance with the British Education Research Association Ethical Guidelines (2011). Ethical approval for the project and for all evaluation tools and processes developed and used within it has been granted by the lead partner's Research Ethics Committee. Informed consent has been obtained from all participants.

It should be noted that one of the project partners is Autism-Europe, which is responsible for dissemmination of the project.