Over 7 million children in the U.S. receive support for a developmental delay or disability (DD). For caregiversof these children, behavior issues that often accompany their child's condition create high levels of stressleading to increased mental and physical health issues and impacts on caregiver-child interactions and familyfunctioning. Although evidence-based practices exist to help caregivers with their child's behavioraldevelopment, access to these services is often limited by rigid delivery models requiring in-person visits thatcan delay support and further increase the burden on families. These barriers are disproportionately higher forfamilies of color and for those in low resource situations: an effect that has been exacerbated by reductions inservices due to COVID-19. The overall objective of this project is to develop and implement a telehealthdelivery model of rapid-response, evidence-based behavioral support to be provided in conjunction with anexisting family navigation program (Undivided) serving parents of children with DD to create a commerciallymarketable product that will reduce barriers to services in local communities across the country. Building onUndivided's established systems and trusted relationships with a large community of families of children withDD, this project will extend that support by partnering with a text and telephone support service for caregiversof young children (FASTT). This Phase 1 application will enable a collaborative process to adapt evidence-based behavioral support to the specific needs of families of children ages birth to 12 with DD and integratethat support within the existing family navigation service. The rationale for the work is that providing effective,personalized support through the widely accessible mediums of text and telephone will get caregivers the helpthey need when and where they have time to access it and close in time to the behavioral issues they needhelp with, thus reducing caregiver stress and increasing their sense of competence and positive interactionswith their child. Aim 1 determines the feasibility of delivering evidence-based behavioral support to caregiversof children with disabilities using on-demand text messaging. Aim 2 gauges the acceptability of the text-basedsupport service to caregivers. Aim 3 assesses the extent to which text-based support reduces caregiver stress,improves caregiver sense of competence, and builds more positive perceptions of their child's behavior andtheir relationship with their child. The positive impacts of the project are twofold. First, the integration of theUndivided support platform with FASTT behavioral support represents an innovative approach to addressingthe critical gap in early intervention services for caregivers of children with DD with significant immediate andlong-term benefits for those families. Second, creating a delivery model that enables family navigation servicesto provide evidence-based telehealth behavioral support as part of their service portfolio will create marketablevalue by increasing engagement with families and subsequently increasing potential subscription revenue.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project Narrative
For caregivers of children with developmental delay or disability, behavior issues and lack of access to
evidence-based behavioral support can create high levels of stress with impacts on mental and physical
health, caregiver-child interactions, and family functioning. The proposed project addresses that lack of access
by developing and implementing a telehealth delivery model of rapid-response, evidence-based behavioral
support through a collaboration between an established family navigation service and an innovative telehealth
support program. This work is the initial step that will enable the Undivided support platform to integrate
accessible, effective behavioral support into its service portfolio, increasing access for families of children with
DD and promoting sustainability and engagement while providing critical immediate and long term benefits for
families.
Project Terms: <0-11 years old>
