Evaluation of a Brief Podcast to Teach Caregivers to Use Positive Reinforcement with Their Child with Autism

Caregivers play the most important role in their autistic child’s development. Training caregivers to use strategies based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) could lead to improved outcomes for their child and family. Caregivers can learn these strategies from synchronous training (in-person or telehealth) with an ABA clinician. However, accessing synchronous caregiver training in ABA is costly, time-intensive, and limited in many regions of the world. Cost, time, and geographical constraints should not limit any family’s access to caregiver training in ABA; there is a need to evaluate the efficacy of less resource-intensive training methods that are easier for caregivers to access. Podcasts are growing in popularity, but few studies have investigated if podcasts can teach others to use ABA strategies. For this dissertation, Setareh created a 28-min podcast with worksheets to teach caregivers how to use positive reinforcement. The principal investigator is currently completing Phase 1 and identified two modifications (i.e., experimental design and instruction to use items in reinforcer bin) that would strengthen my dissertation and its potential contributions. For Phase 2, the team will recruit at least seven more caregiver-child dyads and evaluate the efficacy of the podcast—whether caregivers improve in their application of positive reinforcement with a confederate and answer more knowledge questions correctly—using a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across caregivers. For caregivers who do not meet the mastery criterion following the podcast, modeling, and performance feedback will be introduced sequentially until mastery is achieved. The team will also assess the caregivers’ use of positive reinforcement with their child if the child assents, and will conduct maintenance follow-up sessions at two and four weeks. Although a podcast cannot replace the benefits of getting direct and interactive training from a trained clinician, if found efficacious, it could be a useful tool for many caregivers who cannot access synchronous training in ABA and a supplement to other training programs.