| Abstrakt: |
Professionals in the field have emphasized the importance of parents' involvement in Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) programs for their children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, little research has explored this involvement or what it entails. A parent self-report questionnaire was designed, in which parents' involvement, along with other factors related to involvement, were operationalized and measured. Questionnaires were completed by 105 parents of children with ASD. To create a theoretically sound and statistically reliable measure of involvement, an exploratory factor analysis of 20 involvement items was conducted. This resulted in a good-fitting four-factor model, in which four distinct types of involvement emerged: formal IBI, child program, training, and agency involvement. These results demonstrate that there are several different ways that parents can be involved in their children's IBI program. Implications for working with parents are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
