For Parents
Research Round-Up
In this week’s edition, we summarize research about: the experience of EI providers delivering services in child care settings, the effectiveness of parent-implemented interventions via telepractice, and factors associated with therapist discontinuation of EBPs over time.
What Early Intervention Looks Like in Child Care Settings: Stories from Providers
It is becoming more common for early intervention (EI) providers to deliver services in child care centers rather than children’s homes; however, little is known about services in this setting. The researchers held focus groups with childcare and EI providers to gather information about their experiences. They grouped the common challenges expressed into six themes: professional roles and responsibilities (e.g., who should initiate collaboration), communication (e.g., finding time to collaborate), location of services (e.g., separate room), disruptive nature of the setting (e.g., chaotic classroom), ease of carryover (e.g., level of support given) and variability across children, professionals, and programs. While this study was done with a limited number of professionals from a single state, the information provides insight into barriers providers can address to support quality services in childcare settings.
Parent-implemented intervention is an evidence-based practice, and telepractice has emerged as one method providers can use to conduct this type of intervention. These authors reviewed the current research on this practice. Across the 12 studies reviewed, all reported improved parent and/or child outcomes after a telepractice-based parent-implemented intervention. However, only one of the 10 single-case studies and one of two group design studies met standards of scientific rigor and quality. In addition, all of the studies were solely with children with ASD. Although there is growing evidence of the effectiveness of parent-implemented intervention using telepractice, more rigorous and diverse scientific research is needed to fully understand what specific components may contribute to intervention success.
There have been increasing efforts to systemically implement evidence practices (EBPs) in community care settings, however discontinuation of use is common. These researchers investigated factors that contribute to long-term sustainment of EBPs. They collected data from therapists who were part of a system reform across mental health agencies in Los Angeles. Therapists took surveys and participated in interviews years after the reform in which they were trained in several different EBPs. The researchers identified several factors, including therapist negative perceptions of EBP fit and usefulness well as low self-efficacy delivering the EBP, that were associated with discontinuation. These findings highlight the importance of determining EBP fit with the client population, agency supports, and therapist goals when supporting therapist implementation of EBPs.