Feasibility of an Evidence-Based Parent-Mediated Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Community Healthcare...

Background/Objectives: Parental involvement is currently recommended by Italian national guidelines on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) intervention. However, research on the impact of parent-mediated interventions on parental skills and children's outcomes in Italy is limited. This study evaluated the feasibility of delivering Parent-ESDM (Parent-mediated Early Start Denver Model), a well-supported Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (NDBI) known to benefit parents' well-being and children's development, within an Italian healthcare service. Methods: Twenty parent-child dyads participated in weekly 1 h Parent-ESDM sessions for 6 months. Spontaneous parent-child interactions were assessed at baseline, mid-intervention, and post-intervention to examine parents' use of NDBI strategies and changes in children's core ASD behaviors. Results: Throughout the intervention, parents acquired a good level of fidelity in the use of NDBI strategies and children obtained significant improvements in core ASD behaviors. Conclusions: These preliminary findings support the feasibility of delivering a parent-mediated intervention within an Italian healthcare service. The positive trends observed provide a strong rationale for conducting controlled trials to more definitively evaluate this model and its potential adoption as a future standard practice.