Caregiver-Implemented Interventions for Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Literature Review

摘要

Caregiver-implemented interventions are increasingly utilized to address the needs of families of autistic children. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesize the studies evaluating interventions implemented by caregivers of autistic teens and young adults. We identified 10 studies that evaluated the efficacy of a caregiver-implemented intervention for autistic adolescents and young adults. We analyzed information related to participant and methodological characteristics, dependent variables, caregiver involvement, caregiver implementation fidelity, social validity, design quality, and strength of the results. In the included studies, daily living skills were the most common outcome targeted for intervention. Caregiver training often consisted of some or all of the components of behavioral skills training. Seven of the ten included studies (70%) met the What Works Clearinghouse methodological design standards. Across studies, results suggest caregiver-implemented interventions improved outcomes for autistic individuals and caregivers rated the interventions as socially valid. The current body of literature provides initial support for the use of caregiver-implemented interventions to improve outcomes for autistic adolescents and young adults, although additional research in this area is warranted.