Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 Sep;51(5):e70148.
doi: 10.1111/cch.70148.

Effectiveness of a Parent Empowerment Program for Parents of Children with Autism: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Damla Şahin Büyük  1 , Dilek Özmen  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of a Parent Empowerment Program for Parents of Children with Autism: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Damla Şahin Büyük et al. Child Care Health Dev. 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Parents of children with autism often face significant stress, low self-efficacy, and caregiver burden in meeting their children's complex needs. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a parent empowerment program combining parental training and motivational interviewing to support caregivers of children with autism in Türkiye.

Methods: A total of 69 parents (intervention = 34, control = 35) participated in this unblinded, two-group randomized controlled study, which was conducted between September 2020 and May 2022. A parent empowerment program, including four parental training sessions and two motivational interview sessions, was applied to the parents in the intervention group. The Parental Self-Efficacy Scale, Zarit Care Burden Scale, Perceived Stress Scale and Family Empowerment Scale were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the empowerment program. Standard practice was performed for the control group.

Results: Parents in the intervention group showed significantly greater improvements than those in the control group in self-efficacy (t = 5.340, p < 0.001), perceived stress (t = -4.636, p < 0.001) and family empowerment (t = 2.745, p = 0.008). No significant difference was observed between the groups in caregiver burden (p = 0.086).

Conclusion: This study reveals that using a parent empowerment program that includes motivational interviews along with training interventions is effective in empowering parents to manage their children's care, reducing stress, and supporting them to acquire effective parenting skills by increasing self-efficacy. Future research should explore designs that assess the independent and combined effects of motivational interviews and parent training programmes in randomised controlled trials. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov/) under the registration number NCT06629974 on October 8, 2024.

Keywords: autism; care burden; empowerment; parent training; parental self‐efficacy; parental stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flowchart of participant (adapted from http://www.consort‐statement.org/).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Comparison of pre‐test and post‐test scores between groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Akhani, A. , Dehghani M., Gharraee B., and Hakim Shooshtari M.. 2021. “Parent Training Intervention for Autism Symptoms, Functional Emotional Development, and Parental Stress in Children with Autism Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” Asian Journal of Psychiatry 62: 102735. 10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102735. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Albanese, A. M. , Russo G. R., and Geller P. A.. 2019. “The Role of Parental Self‐Efficacy in Parent and Child Well‐Being: A Systematic Review of Associated Outcomes.” Child: Care, Health and Development 45, no. 3: 333–363. 10.1111/cch.12661. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Almansour, M. , AlQurmalah S. I., and Abdul Razack H. I.. 2023. “Motivational Interviewing—An Evidence‐Based, Collaborative, Goal‐Oriented Communication Approach in Lifestyle Medicine: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature.” Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences 18, no. 5: 1170–1178. 10.1016/j.jtumed.2023.03.011. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association . 2013. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing. 10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596. - DOI
    1. Banach, M. , Iudice J., Conway L., and Couse L. J.. 2010. “Family Support and Empowerment: Post Autism Diagnosis Support Group for Parents.” Social Work With Groups 33, no. 1: 69–83. 10.1080/01609510903437383. - DOI

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data