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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Developmental Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1450455

Feasibility of a videoconferencing-based parent-mediated intervention: a mixed-method pilot study

Provisionally accepted
Marie-Maude Geoffray Marie-Maude Geoffray 1,2Maeva Bourgeois-Mollier Maeva Bourgeois-Mollier 1Maud Maleysson-Baste Maud Maleysson-Baste 1Natacha Gallifet Natacha Gallifet 1Sara Dochez Sara Dochez 1,3Gaelle Bonis Gaelle Bonis 1Agathe Jay Agathe Jay 1,2Lucie Jurek Lucie Jurek 1,2*
  • 1 Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Bron, France
  • 2 INSERM U1290 Recherche sur la Performance des Soins (RESHAPE), Lyon, France
  • 3 Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod (ISC), Bron, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) presents early communication and social challenges, necessitating timely and accessible intervention. Pre-school Autism Communication Therapy (PACT), a parent-mediated intervention, empowers parents to facilitate their child's development. However, accessibility issues often hinder families from accessing evidence-based intervention. This pilot study assessed the feasibility of videoconferencing-based PACT as a precursor for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Methodology: A mixed-methods approach integrated quantitative retrospective measures and semistructured interviews. Participants included children diagnosed with ASD who received PACT, and PACT-trained professionals with videoconferencing experience. Feasibility was assessed through audio and video quality, internet stability, and session length. Professionals' experiences were analyzed using a qualitative thematic analysis. Autism severity, parent-child interaction, and therapeutic changes were also described.Results: Nine parent-child dyads and eight PACT therapists were included in the study.Videoconferencing-based PACT intervention proved feasible, with 95.1% of the 41 sessions rated as feasible on the scale. Technical challenges such as audio quality (7.3%) and screen sharing (19.1%) have emerged, which therapists circumvented to maintain intervention quality. Autism severity and parent-child interaction showed positive trends, supported by qualitative findings reporting increased parental confidence and enhanced synchrony. The core components of PACT were successfully adapted to the remote setting.Conclusion: This pilot study suggests that delivering PACT via videoconferencing is a feasible approach to enhance the accessibility of evidence-based interventions for ASD. Larger-scale research with rigorous controls is required to validate these promising findings. An ongoing multicenter randomized trial aims to address this gap.

    Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Parent-mediated intervention, PACT, Videofeedback, mixed-methods

    Received: 17 Jun 2024; Accepted: 12 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Geoffray, Bourgeois-Mollier, Maleysson-Baste, Gallifet, Dochez, Bonis, Jay and Jurek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lucie Jurek, INSERM U1290 Recherche sur la Performance des Soins (RESHAPE), Lyon, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.