Special Issue - Community Development and Implementation - Who gets coached? - A qualitative inquiry into community clinicians’ decisions to use caregiver coaching

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bulrr

Clinicians’ beliefs about whether an intervention fits a family can determine whether they implement that intervention. The study examines how clinicians report using caregiver coaching, an evidence-based practice, with families from minoritized or structurally marginalized groups and what they perceive as driving any disparities. Semi-structured interviews with 36 early intervention clinicians across two U.S. regions identify social and structural factors, including stigma and perceived family characteristics. Results indicate beliefs may intensify inequities in access and lower care quality. The findings support equity-focused implementation strategies to improve both access and quality of care.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Study purpose

Methods

Findings

Implications

Special Issue: Community Development and Implementation Who gets coached? A qualitative inquiry into community clinicians’decisions to use caregiver coaching Autism 2022, Vol. 26(3) 575–585 © The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/13623613211059499](DOI: 10.1177/13623613211059499)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/13623613211059499)[journals.sagepub.com/home/aut](journals.sagepub.com/home/aut) Liza Tomczuk, Rebecca E Stewart, Rinad S Beidas, David S Mandell and Melanie Pellecchia Abstract Clinicians’ beliefs about an intervention’s fit with an individual family influence whether they use it with that family. The factors that influence clinicians’ decisions to implement evidence-based practices for young autistic children have yet tobe evaluated systematically. These factors may partially account for the significant disparities in quality of and access to early intervention. We examined disparities in clinicians’ reported use of caregiver coaching, an evidence-based practice, with families from minoritized or structurally marginalized groups, and the perceived reasons for those disparities, to assess the factors that influence clinicians’ use of caregiver coaching. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 early intervention clinicians from publicly funded early intervention agencies in two distinct geographic regions in the United States. Clinicians identified social and structural factors, including perceived family characteristics and stigma, that influenced their beliefs about the fit of coaching with families from minoritized or structurally marginalized groups. These findings point to the presence of beliefs that likely exacerbate disparities in access to evidence-based practices and reduce the quality of care for minoritized families of young autistic children. These findings highlight the need to develop and deploy equity-focused implementation strategies to improve both access to and quality of evidence-based practices for young autistic children from minoritized groups. Lay abstract Providers’ beliefs about an intervention’s fit with a family can affect whether or not they use that intervention with a family. The factors that affect providers’ decisions to use evidence-based practices for young autistic children have not been studied. These factors may play a role in the major differences we see in the quality of and access to early intervention services in the community. We looked at differences in providers’ use of caregiver coaching, an evidencebased practice, with families from minority or vulnerable backgrounds, and the possible reasons for those differences. We did this to figure out what factors affect providers’ use of caregiver coaching. We interviewed 36 early intervention providers from early intervention agencies in two different parts of the United States. Providers pointed out things like what they thought about a family’s circumstances that affected their beliefs about how well coaching fits with minority and vulnerable families. Our findings bring attention to these beliefs that likely make accessing evidence-based practices for minority and vulnerable families harder and lessen the quality of care for these families of young autistic children. These findings highlight the need to come up with and use strategies to improve both access to and the quality of evidence-based practices for young autistic children from minority and vulnerable groups. Keywords caregiver coaching, disparities in care, early intervention, parent coaching Each year in the United States, approximately 437,000 infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities receive publicly funded early intervention (EI) services through the Part C service system under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (“Part C Infant and Toddler Program Federal Appropriations and National Universi

FAQs

What question does the study address about caregiver coaching?

The study asks what factors influence clinicians’ decisions to implement caregiver coaching with families from minoritized or structurally marginalized groups.

How was the research conducted?

Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 early intervention clinicians from publicly funded agencies in two geographic regions in the United States.

What factors did clinicians identify as affecting coaching use?

Clinicians identified social and structural factors, including perceived family characteristics and stigma, that shaped beliefs about how well coaching fits those families.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bulrr