FASTT Telehealth Behavioral Support Service for Caregivers of Children With Developmental Delay or Disability

Summary

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 coronavirus disease 2019 (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.

This project will test the feasibility and acceptability of the Family Advice Text and Telephone (FASTT) support service for caregivers of young children. 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.

Conditions

• Parent-Child Relations
• Parenting
• Child Behavior
• Development Delay
• Developmental Disability
• Development Disorder, Child

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Family Advice and Support Text and Telephone (FASTT) program

The Family Advice Support Text and Telephone (FASTT) service is a telehealth model that provides on-demand, evidence-based advice and support to reduce child behavior problems, address concerns about child development, and help manage stress for caregivers of children with DD. By using text and telephone, which are widely available without disparities in access by race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, FASTT overcomes barriers associated with videoconferencing which requires dependable Internet and familiarity with technology use. FASTT allows support to be delivered at times and locations that are convenient for the caregiver.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Special X Inc.

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Oregon

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Shannon Peake, PhD · University of Oregon

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-04-25

Primary Completion

2024-08-01

Completion

2024-08-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations