The effectiveness of training community mental health therapists in an evidence-based intervention for ASD: Findings from a hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial in outpatient and school-based mental health services.
Lauren Brookman-Frazee, Colby Chlebowski, Miguel Villodas and 4 others
PMID 34983251WHAT IT FOUND
Therapists trained in the AIM HI package used significantly more active teaching strategies with caregivers, more engagement strategies with children, and more structured sessions than those in usual care.
The training did not significantly change how therapists used active teaching strategies directly with children.
Key findings
01Trained therapists used significantly more active teaching strategies with caregivers (d = .89) and more engagement strategies with children (d = .75) than therapists in usual care.
02Trained therapists delivered significantly more structured sessions (d = 1.45) and used more strategies to promote continuity of care (d = 1.13) compared to usual care.
03There was no significant difference between trained and usual care therapists in their use of active teaching strategies directly with children.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The analysis is based on a subset of 131 therapists from the original 172, which may introduce selection bias if the subset differs from the full sample. The study was conducted only in publicly funded mental health programs in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, so results may not generalize to other geographic areas or private practice settings. The primary outcome of this specific analysis was therapist behavior change, not child clinical outcomes, so it does not directly prove that the training improved patient health. Therapists with more severe child behavior problems used fewer active teaching strategies, suggesting the training may be less effective or harder to implement for the most challenging cases.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that this training improves all aspects of therapy delivery. While it significantly improved caregiver-directed strategies and session structure, it did not result in a significant difference in the use of active teaching strategies directly with children compared to usual care.