Poster #168 - The Effect of Keyhole Early Intervention Programme on Parenting Behavior- Parenting Stress among Turkish Parents

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Prevention and Interventions

Integrative Statement

Purpose: Adapted programs such as Responsive Teaching and Small Steps Early Intervention Program are offered to parents having children with special needs in Turkey. However, there is no family-based early intervention program specifically developed or adapted for young children with autism. Previous studies report that family-based early intervention programs improve parent-child interaction (Kim and Mahoney, 2005; Mahoney and Perales, 2003; Mahoney and McDonald, 2004; Mahoney and Perales, 2005) and reduce parenting stress (Chiang, 2014; Rickards, 2007; Turner-Brown, Hume, Boyd and Kainz, 2016; Tonge, 2006, Wang, 2010). In this regard, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Keyhole Early Intervention Programme, which is a family-based early intervention program, on Turkish parents’ parenting behaviors and stress levels. To this end, answers were sought to the following questions:
1. Are there significant differences between the pretest and posttest and between the posttest and follow-up test parenting behavior scores of the parents involved in Keyhole Early Intervention Programme?
2. Are there significant differences between the pretest and posttest and between the posttest and follow-up test parenting stress scores of the parents involved in Keyhole Early Intervention Programme?
Method: The study employed the convergent parallel design, which is a mixed research method. One-group pretest-posttest design, which is a weak experimental design, was used in the quantitative dimension. The weak experimental design was used because it would not be ethical to keep mother-child pairs in the control group during the implementation stage as they are in an important process for child development (i.e. early childhood). The study group was determined through criterion sampling, which is a purposive sampling method. The criteria for inclusion in the study group were children’s having high functioning autism and parents’ having a monthly income above poverty line in Turkey. 10 parents fulfilling such criteria were included in the study. Quantitative data were analyzed though Friedman’s two-way analysis of variance and Wilcoxon signed rank test while qualitative data were subjected to content analysis.
Findings: A significant difference was found between the participating parents’ pretest and posttest scores in being “sensitive and responsive” and in “emotional expressiveness”. Significant differences were determined between the parents’ pretest and posttest scores in the sub-dimension of “parental distress” and between their total scores, but no significant differences were identified in the sub-dimensions of “parent-child dysfunctional interaction” and “difficult child”. The qualitative data support the quantitative data.
Discussion: Like Diken and Mahoney (2013) and Toper Korkmaz (2015), the present study found that family-based early intervention programs raise parents’ scores in being “sensitive and responsive” and “emotional expressiveness”. In a similar vein, consistently with the findings of previous studies, this study determined that family-based early intervention programs reduce parenting stress (Chiang, 2014; Rickards, 2007; Samadi and Mahmoodizadeh, 2014; Turner-Brown, Hume, Boyd and Kainz, 2016; Tonge, 2006, Wang, 2010).

Authors

• Dila Nur YAZICI, PhD
  Non-Presenting Author

• berrin akman, Prof. Dr.
  Presenting Author