A Pilot Study of a Co-parenting Intervention for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The aims of this pilot study are to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a peer-delivered co-parenting program, Autism Parent Navigators (APN), for parents of children recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thirty families (63 caregivers) participated in a mixed-method quasi-experimental test of the six-week intervention. Feasibility and acceptability data were collected weekly. Outcome data were collected at baseline, post-test, and 3-month follow-up. The findings suggest that the APN program was generally feasible to deliver in a community setting and was acceptable to parents of children with ASD. The results also offer promising preliminary evidence of the program's impact on parents' ASD service navigation, co-parent relationship quality and parent well-being. APN could be an effective tool for supporting families in the months following their child's diagnosis. Highlights: This is a pilot study of a brief, peer-delivered, home-visiting program for parents of children with ASD. Parents and caregivers had high rates of program completion and reported the intervention to have high acceptability. The partner community organization and peer-support interventionists found the intervention feasible to deliver and suggested improvements. Parents and caregivers reported improvements in family empowerment and parent well-being, and mothers reported improvements in coparenting quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]