Using Acceptance and Commitment Training in the Support of Parents of Children Diagnosed with Autism

Blackledge, John T.; Hayes, Steven C.

doi:10.1300/j019v28n01_01

Cited by 288 publications

(228 citation statements)

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“…Peck (1998) combined elements of parent stress management training with family systems therapy. Two studies investigated acceptance and commitment therapy, which combines cognitive behavioral therapy with mindfulness techniques (Blackledge & Hayes, 2006;Kowalkowski, 2013). The following provides further details of these interventions grouped by treatment modality.…”

Section: Treatment Modalitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Blackledge and Hayes (2006) posited ACT to be particularly relevant to parents because their child's symptoms of autism are unlikely to rapidly change or dissipate. As such, it is vital that parents are able to accept the sometimes unpleasant emotions and difficult experiences surrounding their child's disorder.…”

Section: Relaxation Therapy (Rt)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second most utilized location was the family home or a location of the parents' choosing (Campbell, 2003;Feinberg et al, 2014;Gika et al, 2012). Other intervention locations included ASD school sites (Benn et al, 2012;Bitsika & Sharpley, 2000), an ASD treatment center (Blackledge & Hayes, 2006), and convenient community locations (Dykens et al, 2014). LaPlante (2013) and Whitney and Smith (2014) were the only studies conducted online.…”

Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most weekly interventions lasted six (Dykens et al, 2014;Feinberg et al, 2014;Gika et al, 2012) to eight weeks (Bitsika & Sharpley, 2000;Ferraioli & Harris, 2013;Kowalkowski, 2013;Whitney & Smith, 2014), but ranged from five (Benn et al, 2012;Kenney, 2010) to nine weeks (Peck, 1998) in duration. Blackledge and Hayes (2006) delivered an intensive 2-day intervention for seven hours per day. The two writing interventions instructed participants to complete writing tasks over a period of three days for 20 min per day (Campbell, 2003) or for seven days at 10 min per day (LaPlante, 2013).…”

Section: Intervention Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three of these studies assessed parent outcomes comparing baseline and post-intervention results (Bitsika & Sharpley, 2000;Gika et al, 2012;Peck, 1998). Kenney (2010) used a single-case design with multiple baselines, while Blackledge and Hayes (2006) utilized a within-subject, repeated measures design.…”

Section: Quasi-experimental Design (Qed)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Interventions that target improvements in mental health for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders: A narrative review

Paz

Wallander

2017

Clinical Psychology Review

126

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• Narrative review of mental health interventions for parents of autistic children • Some treatments reported improvements in stress, depression, and anxiety.• Post-test produced weaker effects than follow-up assessments two months and beyond.• Small sample size, homogeneity, and self-report limited generalizability of results • Outcomes encouraging, but existing data cannot yet support definitive conclusions a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) suggest that one in 68 children is affected. With convincing evidence that parenting a child with ASD is associated with elevated distress and mental health problems, researchers have begun to investigate treatments that directly target parents' psychological well-being. We conducted a narrative review of studies that empirically tested the effects of interventions targeting improvements in the mental health of parents of children with ASD. Following a range of search strategies, a total of 13 studies, seven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and six pre-post test designs, met inclusion criteria. We calculated and reported effect sizes for all RCTs. On average, treatment produced medium to large effect sizes with improvements in parenting stress and general health, and reductions in depression and anxiety. Interventions that appeared promising included: Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques, Expressive Writing, MindfulnessBased Stress Reduction, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. However, only one study conducted a followup assessment N 3 months post intervention. Study populations primarily consisted of English-speaking mothers, ages 39 to 42 years. Conclusions were limited by small sample sizes, homogeneity of sample population, and reliance on self-report. Therefore, this body of research contains significant limitations in need of improvement for this field to move forward and benefit a sizable number of parents.

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Section: Treatment Modalitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relaxation Therapy (Rt)mentioning

confidence: 99%