Brief intervention reduced parents’ stress after child autism diagnosis

Problem-solving education, a cognitive-behavioral intervention, can help reduce parental stress and depressive symptoms after a child is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according to recent study results.

Mothers of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder often report stress, depressive symptoms and social isolation. Emily Feinberg, CPNP, ScD, of the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues examined 122 mothers of children younger than 6 years who were recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to determine whether problem-solving education helped alleviate stress and symptoms.

Problem-solving education was defined as a brief cognitive intervention delivered in six half-hour individualized session by existing staff or research staff without formal mental health training.

Fifty-nine mothers received six sessions of problem-solving education (intervention) and 63 received usual care (control). Follow-up was conducted after 3 months of treatment.

The intervention group was less likely to report parenting stress (4%) compared with controls (29%; adjusted RR=0.17; 95% CI, 0.04-0.65). The intervention group was also less likely to report depressive symptoms (6%) compared with controls (22%; adjusted RR=0.33; 95% CI, 0.1-1.08). At follow-up, the intervention group was more likely to use social coping skills compared with controls (adjusted mean difference, 1.43; 95% CI, 0.4-2.46).

“Future analyses will examine the effect of intervention over a longer follow-up period and allow us to assess whether the intervention worked differently among subgroups of mothers, which is knowledge that could help us better target those most likely to benefit from the intervention,” the researchers wrote in JAMA Pediatrics. “Despite the limited scope of the present analysis, the findings are encouraging. Evidence of successful intervention delivery and positive intervention effects support our ongoing efforts to more definitively test the efficacy of this brief, easily replicated intervention.”

Emily Feinberg, CPNP, ScD, can be reached at 801 Massachusetts Ave., Room 439, Boston, MA 02118; email: emfeinbe@bu.edu. 

Disclosure: The study was funded in part by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.