Characterizing Latino Caregiver Engagement in Early Intervention Services for Autism - Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are a rapidly growing population with complex service needs estimated to cost $268 billion annually. Evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for young children with likely ASD yield long-term benefits in terms of child outcomes and reduced costs of ASD to society. As such, policies increasingly emphasize early screening and identification of ASD, placing demand on the early intervention service system to provide care the growing number of young children (under age 3 years) with likelihood of ASD. Latino children in the U.S. are increasingly being diagnosed with ASD at young ages, yet continue to experience disparities in service access and quality relative to their non-Latino White counterparts. Recent work has made important progress in developing and testing interventions to promote service use, but not service quality, for Latino families of young children with ASD. A key factor impacting early intervention service quality is caregiver engagement. Caregiver engagement, a multidimensional construct that includes attitudinal (e.g. treatment expectancy) and behavioral (e.g. attendance, in-session engagement) dimensions, is an essential consideration for early intervention services which legally require caregiver involvement (IDEA, 2004) and frequently employ caregiver-mediated interventions which teach caregivers to deliver strategies with their children. While the extent of caregiver engagement is linked to child outcomes, and Latino caregiver engagement disparities have been found in other child service sectors (i.e., mental health), few studies have explored engagement disparities and determinants in early intervention services for ASD. Informed by frameworks of multidimensional engagement (REACH), implementation determinants (Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment/EPIS Framework), and health and service disparities (Health Equity Implementation Framework), the present study will seek to: (1) characterize patterns of multidimensional caregiver engagement by ethnicity, acculturation, and socioeconomic status, and (2) identify barriers and facilitators to engagement in ASD early intervention services for Latino families. This SuRE First will build on the PI’s expertise in clinical research, quantitative methods, and student research mentorship, while providing the mentorship and protected time needed to achieve the following career enhancement objectives: (1) refine models for inclusive mentorship, (2) increase research productivity, (3) maximize competitiveness for future grants, and (4) establish the PI as an expert in ASD services and implementation research. This SuRE First award will ensure ample opportunities for active student involvement in research (e.g. observational coding, conducting interviews, mixed methods analysis), while producing pilot data needed to develop future grants (i.e., the development and testing of a multi-level engagement toolkit; future R34/R01) and launch a sustainable research career for the PI.
