Parent support following an initial autism diagnosis : a mixed methods open trial of Autism 101

There is considerable research demonstrating that parents of children with autism face practical and psychosocial challenges, for which very few supportive services exist. Autism 101 is a novel group intervention developed to support healthy family adaptation following an initial autism diagnosis. The current study is an open trial of Autism 101, which uses a convergent mixed methods design to assess for changes in parent-level and program-level outcomes. At the parent level, improvements were observed in aspects of coping, illness perception, and family empowerment. No changes were observed in aspects of parenting stress or social support. Qualitatively, parents provided rich descriptions of the specific stressors impacting their family around the time of diagnosis and reported on their experience of coming to understand autism, building advocacy skills, and utilizing a range of coping strategies to navigate the post-diagnostic period. At the program level, participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the intervention, had good attendance and engagement across sessions, and fidelity ratings were high. Findings provide preliminary support for the feasibility and potential clinical utility of Autism 101.Educational Psycholog