Cultural Adaptation of RUBI Intervention with Korean Families (K-RUBI): A Mixed Method Study

Challenging behaviors of young autistic children remain a major parenting challenge for many of their family members, including caregivers. Caregivers from underrepresented cultural or linguistic backgrounds may experience exacerbated difficulties related to challenging behaviors due to limited access to culturally sustaining and responsive interventions. Evidence-based behavior parent training programs, such as RUBI, are highly effective in increasing caregivers' capacity in preventing and responding to these behaviors in naturalistic settings using behavior analytic principles. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of the culturally adapted RUBI program with underserved families. We conduct a convergent mixed-methods study using a pilot randomized controlled trial with a waitlist control group and focus group interviews with 31 Korean families of young children with or suspected of autism. The Korean RUBI underwent rigorous cultural adaptation using the Cultural Adaptation Checklist, including the use of multiple community advisory boards to inform cultural adaptation. Both quantitative and qualitative findings revealed significant improvements in parents' confidence and knowledge in behavioral principles and decrease in severity of challenging behaviors, which suggest clinical utility of RUBI in an underrepresented, low-resourced community. A culturally adapted intervention for a different population can be perceived as a newly constructed intervention. This study provides insight on the systematic process of cultural adaptation of an established autism intervention and effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of RUBI.