Cultural Acceptability of ABA Parent Training for ASD

Abstract

Background: While training in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) increases parents' skills in reducing problem behaviors of their children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; autistic) and reduces their own parental stress, these programs have not been tailored nor accessible to Spanish-speaking parents, and their acceptability within this population remains unclear. Method: A 10-week ABA parent training program was delivered to monolingual Spanish-speaking parents (n=11) of children with ASD aged 6-10 years old. The program included an initial assessment, six group and four individual evening meetings delivered exclusively in Spanish, with food, transportation, and childcare. Individual interventions were designed with each family to address a parent nominated target behavior. Child behaviors were monitored weekly using Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) recording and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist and Parent Stress Index was administered before and after the intervention. Results: There was high attendance (84.6%) across sessions overall. A wide range of behavioral challenges was reported; approximately 78% of parents found the intervention to be acceptable and saw reduced problem behavior. Parental stress was also significantly reduced post-intervention. Conclusions: Adaptations to existing ABA parent training interventions are needed to better support Spanish-speaking families of children with ASD, and acceptability of these interventions should be an ongoing part of an iterative intervention delivery process.