Symposia
Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disorders
Karen S. Wood, Ph.D.
University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Jeffrey J. Wood, Ph.D.
Professor
UCLA
Los Angeles, California
Kashia Rosenau, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
UCLA
Los Angeles, California
An-Chuen Cho, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
UC Davis
Sacramento, California
Modular EBPs for Youth with Autism (MEYA; meya.ucla.edu) is a free internet-based clinician training and guidance system developed from existing EBPs for autism (e.g., Wood et al., 2020, 2021) distilled into modules that address autism symptoms along with comorbid symptoms (e.g., anxiety; externalizing) in youth with autism. Training is provided in brief internet-based self-instruction modules that are pushed out to therapists just days before an upcoming therapy session. The overarching objective of MEYA is to help community clinicians develop expertise in EBPs for autism by increasing their adherence and competence in specific CBT techniques that are applicable to high priority clinical needs of children they are currently treating.
Methods: A multiple baseline study of 7 therapists (e.g., psychologists, MFTs) recruited from several community care settings throughout the United States was conducted. The therapists were asked to invite a new youth client with autism (aged 6 to 17 years) and their family to participate in the study as well; once a client (and her/his caregiver) consented/assented, therapists were randomly assigned to undergo baseline conditions of 2 to 8 weeks in length. During baseline, therapists used their typical therapy practices. Once online training in MEYA commenced, clinicians engaged in algorithm-guided self-instruction in CBT for autism. They also received a one-time 15 minute consultation with an expert in MEYA. Participating therapists videotaped every session they conducted (baseline and MEYA). The average number of MEYA sessions completed was 11. Trained coders unaware of session number or study hypotheses used the MEYA Fidelity Scale (FS) observational coding system to rate the therapists’ adherence and competence in autism-specific CBT for each videotaped session.
Results: Visual analysis of multiple baseline charts showed that 5 of 7 therapists significantly increased their adherence and competence in autism-specific CBT practices (i.e., MEYA-FS scores) immediately or soon after the end of baseline and beginning of MEYA training. This increase in fidelity was maintained across most subsequent MEYA sessions for these therapists. Multilevel models (with sessions nested within therapists) confirmed that the onset of MEYA training was associated with a statistically significant increase in adherence and competence in autism-specific CBT practices.
Conclusion: MEYA is a promising free training tool that may help therapists improve their adherence and competence in autism-specific CBT practices.