A pilot study of family-based management of behavioral excesses in young Iranian children with autism spectrum disorder

Esmaeil Shiri; Hamidreza Pouretemad; Jalil Fathabadi; Mohammad Narimani

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2019.101845

A pilot study of family-based management of behavioral excesses in young Iranian children with autism spectrum disorder

Asian J Psychiatr. 2020 Jan:47:101845. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2019.101845. Epub 2019 Oct 16.

Authors

Esmaeil Shiri¹, Hamidreza Pouretemad², Jalil Fathabadi³, Mohammad Narimani⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran; Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: h-pouretemad@sbu.ac.ir.
³ Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

PMID: 31683193
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2019.101845

Abstract

Objective: Parent-mediated early behavioral interventions are considered as effective approaches in the treatment of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The majority of these interventions focus on social-communication deficits rather than behavioral excesses which severely irrupt child and family social life as well as the child's appearance behavior and learning processes. The study examines the effectiveness and feasibility of Family-based Management of Behavioral Excesses of Autism Program (FMBEAP) on Iranian families.

Method: This pre-post and follow-up intervention study involved 17 parents of children with DSM-5 diagnosis of ASD recruited from Tehran Autism Center. All parents conducted FMBEAP on their children while receiving 10-weekly group supervision on top of everyday on-line individual coaching. The study's measures were Repetitive Behavior Scale-R, video-monitoring of child-parent Interaction, Clinical Global Impression-Improvement Scale, Parental Self-Efficacy and Parenting Stress Index-short form. The measures were applied to the sample three times: pre and post-intervention and at one-month follow-up.

Results: The Results showed high and low order behavioral excesses significantly decreased at post-intervention and the follow-up. 15 out of 17 children reached to recovered or highly recovered at post-test. Parents showed significant improvements in self-efficacy and parenting stress scales. The intervention was highly accepted by them.

Conclusion: FMBEAP is shown to be a feasible, acceptable and effective intervention to improve autistic behavioral. The parents should also benefit from the program in terms of self-efficacy and parenting stress. FMBEAP is highly recommended for overcoming behavioral excesses along with those interventions focus on behavioral deficits in ASD.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Behavioral excesses; Early intervention; Parent-mediated behavioral intervention.

MeSH terms

Adult
Autism Spectrum Disorder / therapy*
Behavior Therapy*
Child Behavior*
Child, Preschool
Early Medical Intervention
Female
Humans
Iran
Male
Outcome Assessment, Health Care*
Parenting*
Pilot Projects
Problem Behavior*
Self Efficacy*
Stress, Psychological / therapy*