Training Coaches in Community Agencies to Support Parents of Children with Suspected Autism: Outcomes, Facilitators, and Barriers.
Pat Mirenda, Veronica Smith, Paola Colozzo and 3 others
PMID 34796421WHAT IT FOUND
Child-skills checklist scores rose after a package combining online modules, agency meetings, workshops, practice, peer pods, trainer support, technology support, reimbursements, and newsletters.
Coaching skill scores varied.
Key findings
01Therapist Practice Checklist scores were higher post-PACE 1 than pre-PACE 1, but early educators averaged 80.1% and allied health professionals averaged 89.8%.
02Coaching Skills Checklist scores averaged 75.0% post-PACE 2 for 13 trainees, and at implementation early educators averaged 66.9% and allied health professionals 83.9% with no significant difference.
03Interviews identified positive influences such as training design, compatibility, leadership support, and engagement with trainers, and mixed or neutral influences including complexity, cost, and technology execution.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The paper reports trainee training and implementation outcomes, not child outcomes from the randomized trial. Fidelity data were missing for many trainees: coaching videos were scored for only 13 of 31 trainees after PACE 2 and for 17 trainees during implementation. Attrition was substantial and was mainly due to caseload demands, so the trainees who finished may not represent agencies with heavier constraints. Trainees were not required to reach a fidelity benchmark before advancing, so reported means hide wide individual variability. Executive Directors nominated trainees, and several agencies declined because of caseload and personnel constraints, so participants were self-selected. Technology problems, including poor internet, device access, and video upload difficulties, affected training and data collection. The training package included many components, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The study was conducted in British Columbia community child development and Indigenous agencies, so findings may not transfer to other health systems.
Declared interests
The PACE Coaching research grant financed training, trainee time reimbursement, parent mileage and honoraria, and travel. The named funder was the Ministry of Children and Family Development, British Columbia. No other author conflicts are stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the training package improves child outcomes or that every coach reached adequate fidelity. It reports trainee training and implementation outcomes, with missing coaching-fidelity videos and no child outcome results.