Constructional Parent Coaching: A Collaborative Approach to Improve the Lives of Parents of Children with Autism

Abstract

Parents of children diagnosed with autism face enormous stressors, which may interfere with achieving personal and family goals. The typical approach for reducing stress is often pathological; the individual attempts to directly eliminate the stress through counseling, behavioral therapy, or medication. As an alternative, the constructional approach builds repertoires for accessing important reinforcers. In this study, a mentoring program based on the constructional approach was used to teach three parents of children diagnosed with autism how to analyze their lives, formulate goals, and implement programs to reach these goals. A mentor’s support was gradually reduced until each participant could implement these steps independently. After the implementation of this program, events that each participant wanted to keep as part of their life encompassed a larger proportion of their total weekly events, as compared to before the program. In addition, time spent working on chosen goals increased as each goal was targeted for intervention. This mentoring program offers a promising approach for teaching people to manage their own lives by cultivating skills that help them get what they want, without dwelling on the problems interfering with their happiness.