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ABSTRACT
Background: More than 3.5 million people in the United States are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Caring for children with ASD can be stressful and can be detrimental to the well-being of the caregivers (CGs). However, the adverse effects of caregiving on the well-being of CGs may be avoided with appropriate interventions. CGs of persons with ASD might benefit from a positive thinking training (PTT) intervention to help them cope with the stress of caregiving. However, the necessity, acceptability and feasibility for PTT in ASD CGs have not been studied.
Objective: To examine the necessity, acceptability and feasibility of a six-week online PTT intervention designed to improve the well-being of the CGs.
Design: Random assignment of ASD CGs to one of two conditions: (1) PTT online intervention or (2) Control group.
Results: The mean score on the depressive cognition scale (DCS) was 20, indicating a high need of PTT to all enrolled CGs. High depressive cognitions in ASD CGs were associated with lower positive thinking (r = −.39; p <.001). Regarding acceptability, CGs indicated that the different strategies and references to real life were the most interesting parts of the intervention. Regarding feasibility, CGs mentioned that listening to the voice-over PowerPoint and visualization was the easiest part of the PTT.
Conclusions: Examination of the fidelity and effectiveness of the PTT are the next steps in the refinement of this intervention.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to media production specialist, Mr. John Blandino, from the instructional media center at Marquette University for creation of the links to secure the voice over PowerPoint presentations.
Special thanks to Mr. Ken Daily, Application Specialist for Learning Technology, who created the online course named “Intervention for Caregivers” by accessing the website https://cps.ce.mu.edu, in which we posted the links for the PTT intervention.
Special thanks to Denise Matel-Anderson (Research Assistant) for recording the voice-over PowerPoint presentations and enrolling caregivers into the study.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
Funding
This research was funded by the 2015 Summer Faculty Fellowship (SFF) and a 2015 Regular Research Grant (RRG) Fund awarded to The Principal Investigator, Dr. Abir K. Bekhet.