The effectiveness and quality of early assistance to children and their families in the social protection system of Moscow: parents’ opinion

<p><strong>Objective.</strong> The work is aimed at studying the opinion of parents on the effectiveness and quality of early intervention services. <strong>Methods and materials. </strong>The respondents were parents attending the early intervention service for more than 6 months. The age of the parents (258 mothers and 3 fathers) ranged from 22 to 53 years (N = 261; M = 35.9; SD = 5.6). Distribution of children by diagnoses: cerebral palsy — 35, Down syndrome — 20, speech delay — 23, autism and other autism spectrum disorders — 31, others — 152. The age of children was from 8 to 56 months (N = 261; M = 33.9; SD = 9.9). A questionnaire was used, including open and closed questions. <strong>Results.</strong> Positive dynamics in the child’s condition was revealed in 95.2% of cases, in the condition of the parent and family — in 90% of cases. A high average level of satisfaction with the quality of services and willingness to recommend the early intervention service to other parents was revealed (M = 9.2 and M = 9.6 on a scale of 1–10). A significant positive impact of psychological counseling of parents receiving early assistance services on their emotional state (p = 0.0008) and self-confidence as a parent (p = 0.0128) was shown.</p>