FASTT telehealth behavioral support service for caregivers of children with developmental delay or disability

项目摘要

Project Abstract Over 7 million children in the U.S. receive support for a developmental delay or disability (DD). For caregivers of these children, behavior issues that often accompany their child's condition create high levels of stress leading to increased mental and physical health issues and impacts on caregiver-child interactions and family functioning. Although evidence-based practices exist to help caregivers with their child's behavioral development, access to these services is often limited by rigid delivery models requiring in-person visits that can delay support and further increase the burden on families. These barriers are disproportionately higher for families of color and for those in low resource situations: an effect that has been exacerbated by reductions in services due to COVID-19. The overall objective of this project is to develop and implement a telehealth delivery model of rapid-response, evidence-based behavioral support to be provided in conjunction with an existing family navigation program (Undivided) serving parents of children with DD to create a commercially marketable product that will reduce barriers to services in local communities across the country. Building on Undivided's established systems and trusted relationships with a large community of families of children with DD, this project will extend that support by partnering with a text and telephone support service for caregivers of young children (FASTT). This Phase 1 application will enable a collaborative process to adapt evidence- based behavioral support to the specific needs of families of children ages birth to 12 with DD and integrate that support within the existing family navigation service. The rationale for the work is that providing effective, personalized support through the widely accessible mediums of text and telephone will get caregivers the help they need when and where they have time to access it and close in time to the behavioral issues they need help with, thus reducing caregiver stress and increasing their sense of competence and positive interactions with their child. Aim 1 determines the feasibility of delivering evidence-based behavioral support to caregivers of children with disabilities using on-demand text messaging. Aim 2 gauges the acceptability of the text-based support service to caregivers. Aim 3 assesses the extent to which text-based support reduces caregiver stress, improves caregiver sense of competence, and builds more positive perceptions of their child's behavior and their relationship with their child. The positive impacts of the project are twofold. First, the integration of the Undivided support platform with FASTT behavioral support represents an innovative approach to addressing the critical gap in early intervention services for caregivers of children with DD with significant immediate and long-term benefits for those families. Second, creating a delivery model that enables family navigation services to provide evidence-based telehealth behavioral support as part of their service portfolio will create marketable value by increasing engagement with families and subsequently increasing potential subscription revenue.