Search

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Families in rural or remote areas have limited access to evidence-based intervention for their children with autism. Using web-based training and telemedicine technology, the current study investigated the feasibility of training seven parents to implement Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) strategies with their children with autism. In this exploratory formative evaluation, parents increased their knowledge of ABA strategies and concepts by an average of 39 percentage points, and improved their implementation of ABA strategies with their children by an average of 41 percentage points. A total of 9,052 driving miles were saved across the four families. Implications for families living in remote areas, improvements in the training program, and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors developed and evaluated an online foster parent training system designed specifically for low-bandwidth Internet connections and individuals with limited Internet/computer experience. After preliminary onsite evaluations, a 2-week field test was conducted to evaluate the following dimensions: foster parents' pre- to post-test scores on two training modules; user satisfaction ratings; foster parent dropout rate; and amount of communication between participants and researchers. Foster parents made statistically significant pre-/post-test gains in both content areas (Pre-test M 1 = 46.6%, Post-test M 1 = 86.4; Pre-test M 2 = 46.6%, Post-test M 2 = 92.6%), both foster parents and social workers gave the system high ratings on all satisfaction survey items, and the foster parent dropout rate was 27%. Future research and implications for the foster care system are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]