Assessment of Parental Acceptability and Preference for Behavioral Interventions for Feeding Problems

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Developmental pediatrics
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research

Background:

• Feeding problems are common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities.
• Parental acceptance and preference are crucial for the success of behavioral interventions.
• Understanding parent perceptions of different behavioral strategies is essential for effective implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate treatment acceptability and preference for behavioral interventions among parents of children with feeding problems.
• To examine the impact of behavioral severity (food refusal vs. food selectivity) on parent preferences.
• To inform future research on the social validity of feeding interventions for ASD.

Main Methods:

• Survey study involving parents of children with ASD and developmental disabilities.
• Parents responded to vignettes describing either food selectivity or food refusal.
• Evaluated parent ratings of acceptability and preference for various behavioral interventions.

Main Results:

• Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) was the most preferred and acceptable strategy for both food selectivity and food refusal.
• Escape extinction was the least preferred and least acceptable strategy across both behavioral severity groups.
• The severity of the feeding problem (selectivity vs. refusal) did not significantly impact parent acceptability or preference scores.

Conclusions:

• Parents show a clear preference for positive reinforcement strategies like DRA over aversive strategies like escape extinction.
• Intervention acceptability is high for preferred methods, regardless of specific feeding problem severity.
• Findings highlight the importance of social validity in selecting and implementing behavioral feeding interventions for children with ASD.