Parent Acceptance and Empowerment Training MODEL: Evidence from a Parent Training Intervention for ASD in New Delhi, India

Background: The Parent Child Training Program (PCTP) was developed at Action For India, New Delhi, India in 2000 with acceptance of the child and empowerment of the parents as explicit program goals. The program additionally provides practical and theoretical knowledge on autism and behavior management. Training takes place with a group of approximately 12-15 families, thrice every year, over a 3-month period, with the parent and child attending together for 4 hours a day, five days a week. The training includes daily group and one-on-one activities with the children, and group discussions for the parents. To date, the PCTP has trained over 500 families from more than 20 Indian states and eight different countries. The program has been replicated in at least 15 different cities in three different countries.

Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of the programme by focusing on mothers’ empowerment and acceptance towards the child; and the extent to which parenting skills acquired through the training transfer to the home setting and are maintained over time.

Methods: Three consecutive cohorts of families (n=48 total) participated in the evaluation. Participants joined from a wait-list and entered on a first-come, first-served basis. Diagnosis was confirmed using the ADOS and SCQ. Both parents were interviewed at the start and end of the 3-month program and mothers attended the program. Parents and children were followed eight and 15 months after the conclusion of the PCTP program. Measures consisted of a combination of standardized tools and those developed specifically for this evaluation under a broader project on research on families with autism in India.

Results: Cohorts did not differ in demographic characteristics or baseline outcome measures. Significant gains were seen across all outcome measures, including parents’ acceptance, empowerment, knowledge of autism, sense of competence, and stress from before to after the program. These gains were further maintained 15 months later.

Conclusions: The PCTP was developed specifically to meet the needs of families in India, where disability remains highly stigmatizing and services are limited. Using both standardized measures and those developed for this study, the current evaluation provides an estimate of project impacts in key parent outcomes. The fact that parents maintained their gains in acceptance and empowerment 15 months after the end of the program provides compelling evidence for the program’s success and generalizability. The acceptance and empowerment focus of this model offers a novel way to conceptualize parent training, and has high relevance for families in situations where cultural, economic and other contextual factors may be similar to those in India.