Telecoaching Intervention for Children With Autism and Their Parents in Palestine

Overview

Families of children with autism in Palestine may have difficulty accessing early intervention and rehabilitation services because specialized services are limited and families may face geographical, financial, and other barriers. Providing support to parents remotely may help families access professional guidance without needing to travel for every session. This pilot study examined whether an eight-week parent telecoaching program called Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC) could be delivered successfully and was acceptable to parents of young children with autism in Palestine. The study also explored changes in children's participation in everyday activities and autism-related characteristics, as well as parents' confidence in supporting their child and their quality of life. Because this was a small pilot study, these outcomes were explored to help plan future research rather than to determine whether the intervention was effective. Parents were assigned to one of two groups. Parents in the telecoaching group received eight individual online coaching sessions over eight weeks, with each session lasting approximately 40-60 minutes. Coaching helped parents identify activities that were important to their child and family, understand difficulties affecting the child's participation, develop possible strategies, try these strategies during everyday routines, and review progress with the coach. Parents in the waitlist group had access to general Arabic-language information and videos about autism through the Sanad Alhayaa digital platform during the eight-week comparison period but did not receive individual coaching. After completing the post-intervention assessment, they were offered the telecoaching program. The study also included interviews with parents who received telecoaching to better understand their experiences, perceived benefits, and barriers to using this form of support.

This study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. The quantitative component was a two-arm, parallel-group external pilot randomized controlled trial evaluating an eight-week telehealth-delivered Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC) intervention for parents of children with autism in Palestine. The study primarily evaluated the feasibility of trial procedures and intervention delivery and the acceptability of telecoaching. Child and parent outcomes were examined exploratorily to characterize patterns and variability of change and to inform the design of a future definitive trial. Parents and their children were recruited from West Bank districts through community-based and online recruitment approaches. Eligible parents or primary caregivers were aged 18 years or older, spent the majority of the intervention period with the child, and had access to an internet-enabled device and reliable internet connection. Eligible children were aged 3-7 years and had a confirmed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder from a neurologist or psychiatrist. Children receiving other early-intervention or rehabilitation services remained eligible. Following informed consent and completion of baseline assessments, 26 parent-child dyads were randomized, with 14 allocated to OPC telecoaching and 12 to the waitlist control condition. Allocation was conducted using covariate-adaptive minimization based on the Pocock-Simon approach, with a random component, to reduce imbalance between groups with respect to child sex and baseline CARS-2 autism severity. Randomization was centrally controlled by an independent coordinator who was not involved in recruitment, baseline assessment, intervention delivery, or outcome analysis. Participants and the intervention provider could not be masked because of the nature of the coaching intervention. Participants allocated to the intervention received eight weekly individualized OPC sessions delivered synchronously through Zoom, with sessions lasting approximately 40-60 minutes. Coaching focused on parent-selected occupational performance goals and supported parents to analyze performance challenges, generate possible solutions, implement strategies within everyday routines, and review progress. The Sanad Alhayaa digital platform supported intervention-related procedures, including appointment booking, questionnaires, individualized resources, and intervention documentation. During the randomized comparison period, participants allocated to the waitlist condition had access to general Arabic-language autism-related resources through Sanad Alhayaa but did not receive individualized OPC. They were offered OPC telecoaching after completing the post-intervention assessment. Feasibility was evaluated using prespecified progression criteria addressing recruitment, digital platform procedures, randomization, retention, questionnaire completion, intervention attendance, intervention fidelity, and safety. Telecoaching acceptability was assessed using the Saudi Telehealth Acceptance Scale. Exploratory child outcomes included individualized occupational performance and satisfaction measured using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, autism-related characteristics measured using the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist and Childhood Autism Rating Scale, Second Edition, and parent outcomes assessing parental competence and quality of life. Quantitative analyses emphasized descriptive feasibility estimates and exploratory estimation of change rather than confirmatory hypothesis testing. Continuous outcomes were summarized descriptively, and exploratory within-group and between-group changes were accompanied by confidence intervals and standardized effect-size estimates where appropriate. The small pilot sample and exploratory nature of these analyses were considered when interpreting the findings. Following the intervention, semi-structured interviews were conducted with intervention participants to explore their experiences and perceptions of telecoaching, including acceptability, perceived benefits, facilitators, barriers, and implementation experiences. The qualitative component was intended to provide contextual understanding of the quantitative findings and the implementation of the intervention.