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A Brief CRAFT Parental Support Program Focused on Helping Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Neurodevelopmental Problems: a Pilot Study

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Abstract

Objectives

Parents who have either young or adult children with autism frequently report high stress levels due to children’s episodes of aggression, self-inflicted harm, and conduct problems. However, the number of evidence-based programs to assist parents of individuals with autism during the transition to adulthood is scarce. A novel treatment option is Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT). CRAFT is a useful treatment package originally designed to engage resistant substance users into treatment by working with their concerned significant others (CSO). The underlying operant-based belief is that environmental contingencies play an important role in supporting an identified patient (IP) to treatment or community/welfare support resources. Furthermore, CRAFT is geared to (re)connect CSOs to formal and informal social and recreational networks and reducing CSOs’ physical and psychological distress. The aim of this cross-sectional pilot study is to examine the unilateral effects of a brief CRAFT intervention on the well-being of both IPs with autism and CSOs.

Methods

Sixteen CSOs were included in the CRAFT program, consisting of three 60-min group sessions.

Results

The CSOs pre-post analyses demonstrated statistically significant improvements with respect to The General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). However, no statistically significant improvements were observed for IPs.

Conclusions

CRAFT seems a promising approach to facilitate quality of health improvements in CSOs with young or adult children with autism spectrum disorder. However, more research is needed to confirm the role of CRAFT with respect to this diagnostic group.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the participating parents and families for their time and ongoing support. Furthermore, we want to thank both Dr. Meyers, who is the US developer and researcher of CRAFT, and Ms. Sato, who is CRAFT workshop agency member in Japan.

Authors’ Specific Contribution

Author AY designed and executed the study. Author HR collaborated with the design and writing of the study. Both authors analyzed the data and wrote the paper. Both authors collaborated in the writing and editing of the final manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology, Sapporo Gakuin University, 11 Bunkyo-dai, Ebetsu-shi, Hokkaido, 069-8555, Japan

    Aya Yamamoto

  2. Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA), The University of New Mexico (UNM), MSC 11 6280, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, USA

    Hendrik G. Roozen

Authors
  1. Aya Yamamoto
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  2. Hendrik G. Roozen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aya Yamamoto.

Ethics declarations

IRB

The IRB on research ethics in Sapporo Gakuin University approved this present study.

Informed Consent

All participants gave their written informed consent, which was completed upon the initial assessment.

Conflict of Interest

The second author HR receives honoraria for providing CRAFT workshops at universities, mental health institutes, conferences, and local city governments. In addition, HR receives royalties from publishers for scientific books and chapters. The first author AY reports no conflicts of interest.

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Yamamoto, A., Roozen, H.G. A Brief CRAFT Parental Support Program Focused on Helping Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Neurodevelopmental Problems: a Pilot Study. Adv Neurodev Disord 4, 15–19 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-019-00122-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-019-00122-0

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