“I’m not in this alone” the perspective of parents mediating a physical activity intervention for their children with autism spectrum disorder

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2018.08.014Get rights and content

Abstract

Background and aims

Web-based, parent-mediated interventions have shown to be beneficial for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a variety of domains. We aimed to examine how parents of children with ASD perceive mediating a physical activity intervention delivered via a private Facebook group.

Methods

Thirteen families participated in a four-week trial of Project CHASE. Inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and interactions within the Facebook group were conducted to elicit the perspective of the parents.

Outcomes and results

Thematic analysis resulted in three themes emerging: (1) ‘Remembering to Act’ encompassed the participants’ perspectives of Project CHASE as being an intervention that reminded them of the importance of physical activity, and served as a prompt for them to take action; (2) ‘A sharing community’ included the subthemes of ‘sharing success and struggles’ and ‘sharing ideas’; and, (3) ‘Taking control: possibilities and problems’ encapsulates the dichotomy between participants who spoke of embracing and rising to the challenge of taking control, with the parents who spoke of the need for more support, direction, and guidance.

Conclusion and implication

The current study suggests parent-mediated, web-based interventions may have the potential for improving the effectiveness of physical activity interventions for children with ASD.

Section snippets

What this paper adds?

  • •

    The current study highlights a method for developing a web-based, parent-mediated intervention, based on social cognitive theory, for increasing physical activity among children with ASD.

  • •

    Parents perceived the intervention to be particularly useful as a source of motivation, a reminder for them to take action, and as a source of social support.

  • •

    This study highlights the challenges parents may experience when mediated a physical activity intervention; although some parents spoke of embracing and

Sampling/research participants

A purposeful sampling strategy was used to recruit parents of children with ASD for Project CHASE. Parents were recruited to participate in this study from listserves from previous University campus programs, and via email and social media communication with members of a local support group for parents of children with ASD. Inclusion criteria for participants included: (1) Parents with a child (age 6 to 16 years) who had a diagnosis of ASD, and (2) Parents with an active Facebook account.

Demographics

The majority of participating parents were Caucasian (84.6%, n = 11) and had a mean age of 41.3 years (SD = 9.12). The majority of parents held an associate degree or higher (84.6%, n = 11). Regarding Facebook use, the majority of parents (69.2%, n = 9) reported to visit Facebook several times a day. The majority of the children were male (69.2%, n = 9) and had a mean age of 9.38 years (SD = 3.07). Families had, on average, 1.44 siblings (SD = 1.39). Regarding reported comorbidities, 7 children

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to examine how parents of children with ASD perceive mediating a physical activity intervention delivered via a Facebook group. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to examine the perspective of parents involved in this role. The perspective of the parents provides us with some valuable insights for informing future parent-mediated interventions, as well as the use of social media for this purpose. Overall, the parents reported an overall

Conclusion

The current study suggests parent-mediated, web-based interventions for children with ASD may have the potential for improving the scalability and sustainability of interventions aimed to increase physical activity levels. Interviews with parents, and interactions within the intervention group reveal perspectives and experiences that can help inform future intervention design. Future research should aim to increase and refine the involvement of parents and use of web-based platforms for

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all participants for their participation in Project CHASE.

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