Abstract
Caring for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be complicated, especially when challenging behaviors are present. Providers may feel unprepared to work with these individuals because specialized training for medical and social service providers is limited. To increase access to specialized training, we modified an effective half-day ASD-Care Pathway training (Kuriakose et al. 2018) and disseminated it within five different settings. This short, focused training on strategies for preventing and reducing challenging behaviors of patients with ASD resulted in significant improvements in staff perceptions of challenging behaviors, increased comfort in working with the ASD population, and increased staff knowledge for evidence-informed practices. Implications, including the impact of sociodemographic characteristics on pre/post changes, and future directions are discussed.
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Acknowledgments
The training and implementation of the ASD Care Pathway was supported by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s City Council Autism Initiative (Contract Number: 816-1515-0436.A01). The authors would like to thank Mollie Marr, Katherine Voorheis, and Jonathan Creem for assistance with research design and the staff at all training sites for study participation. We would also like to express our gratitude to all of the patients and families who have participated in the ASD Care Pathway.
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LD participated in the modification of the ASD-CP training, conducted outreach to training sites, conducted all trainings, participated in the study design, and helped to draft the manuscript. PC participated in the modification of the ASD-CP training, participated in the design of the study, performed statistical analyses, and helped to draft the manuscript. FG participated in the design of the study, performed statistical analyses, and helped to draft the manuscript. CS participated in the design of the study and helped to draft the manuscript. EO assisted with data collection and data entry, and helped to draft the manuscript. SK participated in the modification of the ASD-CP training and helped to draft the manuscript. BF participated in the modification of the ASD-CP training and helped to draft the manuscript. JH participated in the study design and coordination, and helped to draft the manuscript. SH participated in the modification of the ASD-CP training, designed the study, participated in the interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Donnelly, L.J., Cervantes, P.E., Guo, F. et al. Changes in Attitudes and Knowledge after Trainings in a Clinical Care Pathway for Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 53, 606–614 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04775-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04775-y