“I Became More Confident and Comfortable When Playing With My Son”: Parent Perspectives Following a Strength-Based Video Feedback Intervention

Abstract

Best practices in early intervention include empowering parents to embed evidence-based practices within regular routines with their child, such as Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs). However, very little research has explicitly evaluated intervention approaches that may lead to increased parent self-efficacy for parents of young children with autism. The current study is a mixed-methods evaluation of parent self-reported self-efficacy and perceptions following an NDBI that included strength-based video feedback coaching. We explored (a) parent perceptions of the intervention using a social validity questionnaire and (b) parent self-efficacy using non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. All parents rated the feasibility and effectiveness of the intervention favorably with strong probability of the parents continuing the intervention in the home. While pre-post results were approaching significance, no statistically significant differences on parent self-efficacy ratings were present (z = -1.841; p = .066). Parent responses to open-ended questions revealed that video feedback allowed parents to observe the successes of their child in ways that were not possible when playing with their child in-the-moment. Parents of young children with autism may find strength-based video feedback coaching a feasible and favorable coaching practice when targeting social communication skills. Implications and future research directions are discussed.