Remote delivery of culturally adapted prevent-teach-reinforce for families with Chinese American families of young autistic children

Introduction: Chinese American families of autistic children remain underrepresented in the autism intervention literature. Methods: The current study examined the efficacy and social validity of a culturally adapted and telepractice version of Prevent, Teach, and Reinforce for Families (PTR-F) for Chinese American families of young autistic children in the U.S. Two independent randomized multiple baseline designs across six mother-child dyads were used to examine the effects of the culturally adapted PTR-F intervention program when delivered by mothers on the decreased rate of target child challenging behavior. Results: A clear functional relation was demonstrated between the intervention and increased behavior support plan (BSP) strategy use for all mothers. Following parent education and coaching, all six mothers demonstrated immediate and sustained increases in BSP implementation fidelity, reaching at least 80% fidelity. A clear functional relation was demonstrated between increased parent strategy use and decreased child challenging behavior for two of the six Dyads and weaker but present participant level effects for Dyads 1,2,3, and 4 due to decreasing baseline trends in challenging behavior and lack of clinically significant decreased challenging behavior for Dyad 4. Social validity findings indicated high parent satisfaction with the intervention goals, procedures, and outcomes, as well as strong acceptability of the telepractice delivery model. Discussion: These findings have implications for the development and delivery of culturally adapted, family centered telepractice intervention to reduce children's challenging behavior and expand equitable access to evidence-based autism services for underserved populations.