Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the WHO Caregiver Skills Training in Public Health Services in Italy.

Parents of children with ASD (N = 86; mean age 44.8 months; 67 boys) were randomized to either WHO Caregiver Skills Training (CST) delivered in public health settings in Italy or enhanced treatment-as-usual. Primary blinded outcomes were 3-months post-intervention change scores of autism severity and engagement during caregiver-child interaction.

Acceptability and feasibility of the World Health Organization's Caregiver Skills Training implemented in the Italian National Health System.

Across the globe, children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, have limited access to care through public services. To improve access to care the World Health Organization developed a novel, open-access programme: the Caregiver Skills Training programme. The Caregiver Skills Training consists of nine group sessions and three individual home visits, focused on training the caregiver on how to use everyday play and home routines as opportunities for learning and development.

The Interplay of Communication Skills, Emotional and Behavioural Problems and Parental Psychological Distress.

We investigated the mechanism of impact of poor communication skills and emotional and behavioural problems in children with ASD (22-61 months) on parental psychological distress. Participants were dyads enrolled in two pilot intervention studies; the dataset includes cross-sectional data at baseline (N = 82). We postulated an indirect effect of child expressive and receptive communication on parent psychological distress, through child emotional and behavioural problems.