Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Caregivers of autistic children and adolescents are at higher risk for mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and stress. Evidence reveals that interventions such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) targeting autistic childrens emotion dysregulation and social skills may also indirectly benefit parental well-being. The association between children challenging behaviour and parental well-being reflects on the interrelation between parent and child functioning and the importance of examining both variables when intervening on one of them. Previous studies indicating positive parental outcome post child-targeted interventions were conducted in highly controlled settings which does not necessarily replicate in real-world context such as in a community setting. This study will examine parental mental-health and mindful parenting after the delivery of a child-targeted parent-involved CBT intervention in seven community organizations. It will also report on the associations between parent and child outcomes as well as identify predictors of parental positive outcomes. This study will be the first of its own on examining positive parental outcomes in a community setting following a CBT intervention for children and youth with autism. Results from this study is crucial for community organizations making decision about which evidence-based interventions to adopt in their routine care all the while maximizing the benefits for the parent-child dyad.