A Pilot Evaluation of the PEACE Implementation Toolkit to Improve the Use of Caregiver Coaching in Early Intervention

Caregiver coaching is an essential component of caregiver-mediated interventions for young autistic children. Previous research evaluating usual practice in early intervention (EI) has found that EI providers often do not use caregiver coaching. Increasing the use of caregiver coaching strategies is critical to improving the outcomes of EI. We used a community-partnered process to develop a toolkit of implementation strategies to improve the use of caregiver coaching in EI. This study presents findings from a preliminary evaluation of the toolkit using a non-concurrent multiple-baseline design across groups of providers and caregiver-child dyads. The results indicate that providers' caregiver coaching fidelity improved following the introduction of the toolkit. Caregivers demonstrated moderate growth in their use of supportive parenting techniques. All providers rated the toolkit as acceptable, appropriate, and feasible. The findings suggest that a toolkit of implementation strategies tailored to support the needs of community-based providers shows promise for improving caregiver coaching in EI.