Effect of Sensitized Coaching

on Self-Efficacy of Parents
of Children with Autism

Abstract
Volume 16, Number 2, 2010
Information is lacking on the capacity of coaching models to
alter parental self-efficacy, especially for parents of children
with autism. This gap is worth investigating, considering the
Authors significant challenges this group of parents face in parent-
child interactions and the impact these challenges may have on
Archana Raj,1,2 parental cognitions. To address this gap, this study proposed
Kiran Kumar Salagame2 a sensitized model of parent coaching. Results on the relative
efficacies of this sensitized model to alter self-efficacy of parents
1
ErinoakKids, of children with autism are provided and compared to a tradi-
Mississauga, ON tional model of parent coaching. Implications for programs for
children with autism are discussed.
2
Department of Studies
in Psychology,
University of Mysore, Self-efficacy can influence the quality of care that parents
India provide to their children as well as the degree of enjoyment
they derive from the parenting experience; however, clini-
cians working with parents who might be experiencing chal-
lenges in their parental self-efficacy may not be fully utiliz-
ing the rich repository of information on this construct to
develop intervention models for them (Coleman & Karraker,
1997). In this context, Coleman and Karraker (1997) have
called for efforts to develop models of intervention for par-
ents that have the capacity to alter parental self-efficacy.
Though the authors did not specifically mention parents of
children with autism, interventions that target parental self-
efficacy in this group are worth investigating.

Research is conclusive about families of children with autism

Correspondence reporting a greater number of stressors when compared with
families of children with other disabilities (McGrath, 2006),
araj@erinaoakkids.ca and about the children’s state being a key factor behind their
families’ high levels of stress (Fleischmann, 2005). Parental
self-efficacy, or sense of competence, could be an area of par-
ticular vulnerability when child characteristics are chronic
Keywords and result in special challenges (Kazak & Marvin, 1984). This
information underlines the need to develop parent-coaching
autism, models with the explicit purpose of influencing self-efficacy
self-efficacy, of parents of children with autism.
sensitized model of parent
coaching Parent training/coaching is an essential component of suc-
cessful intervention programs for children diagnosed with
autism (National Research Council, 2001). A number of stud-
ies have reported parents of children with autism gaining
skills in facilitating functional social-communication and
in managing challenging behaviours through parent coach-
ing (e.g., Aldred, Green, & Adams, 2004; Feldman & Werner,
2002; Wetherby & Woods, 2006). However, most of the avail-
© Ontario Association on
Developmental Disabilities
 Sensitized Coaching and Parental Self-Efficacy
45
able parent-coaching models were not designed tion in place, they exhibited low rates of mands
with the goal of enhancing the self-efficacy of (i.e., less than ten times per hour, independent-
parents of children with autism. In order to ly, in parent-child interactive situations). The
target the lacuna identified by Coleman and predominant topography of manding for the
Karraker (1997), it is essential to infuse more children was vocalization, though a small pro-
sensitivity into the traditional coaching prac- portion used signs or exchanged pictures. None
tices of modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. of the children exhibited aggression towards
others or self-injurious behaviours. Mothers
This study attempts to address the gap identi- had less than five facilitations of mands, as
fied (Coleman & Karraker, 1997; Jones & Prinz, observed during one half hour of interactions.
2005) by focusing on interventions targeting the
self-efficacy of parents of children with autism. Study Design
An existing parent-coaching model used at the
participating agency was compared to a “sen- The study question was investigated using a
sitized model” (i.e., an enhanced version of the between-subjects comparison design. The study
existing model that contained specific sensi- involved two parent groups: parents in group 1
tivities infused into the coaching practices of (n = 15) were coached using the existing model
modeling, rehearsal, and feedback). The goal of parent coaching at the participating agency,
was to investigate and compare the relative effi- and parents in group 2 (n  =  15) received sen-
cacies of the two models of parent coaching in sitized coaching. Parents in group 1 received
altering both task-specific and domain-general coaching first, followed by parents in group 2
self-efficacy of parents of children with autism. due to the ethical implications of simultaneous-
This was accomplished by using both models to ly providing two kinds of services (i.e., coaching
coach parents to facilitate their children’s mands; models) to parents in the same clinical setting.
the mand (or request) is recommended as the
first type of language to teach a child with a lan-
guage deficit, as is the case of most children with Measures
autism (Sundberg & Partington, 1998). When the
parent responds to his/her child’s mand, he/she Parents in each group reported on domain-gen-
becomes paired with the delivery of reinforce- eral and task-specific self-efficacy, both before
ment related to the specific mand, which fur- and after receiving parent coaching.
ther enhances parent-child interactions (Cooper,
Heron, & Heward, 2007). Therefore, the parents' Domain-general parental self-efficacy was mea-
experiences with facilitating their children's sured using Johnston and Mash’s (1989) version
mands have the capacity to influence not only of Gibaud-Wallston and Wandersman’s (1978)
the sense of competence related to this specific Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC),
task (i.e., task-specific self-efficacy), but also which is in the public domain. Each item on the
the sense of global parenting competence (i.e., PSOC scale is answered on a 6-point scale with
domain-general self-efficacy). It was hypoth- response options ranging from strongly disagree
esized that, compared to the existing coaching to strongly agree. This measure has two sub-
model, the sensitized coaching model would scales related to Efficacy and Satisfaction; only
lead to higher levels of both parental task-spe- the 7-item Efficacy subscale was used in this
cific and domain-general self-efficacy. study. Higher scores on the Efficacy scale reflect
higher self-efficacy. Johnston and Mash (1989),
have reported adequate psychometric proper-
Method ties for this scale. In addition, Ohan, Leung, and
Johnston (2000), Rogers and Matthews (2004),
and Gilmore and Cuskelly (2009) have substanti-
Participants
ated the scale’s factor structure.
A total of 30 mothers aged between 30 and 40
Task-specific parental self-efficacy in facilitating
years participated in the study. All of them had
child’s mands was measured using the Task-
a child between the ages of four and eight years
Specific Self-Efficacy Scale developed for this
who had been diagnosed with autism and
study. Input from several practitioners was
received services from the participating agency.
solicited for the development of the items, thus
While the children had a system of communica-

v . 16 n .2
46 Raj & Salagame

enhancing its face validity. This scale comprises time per day spent in delivering intensive inter-
15 items that are linked to factors that determine vention services to children with autism, and
quality of functioning in the task of facilitating duration of employment with the agency.
mand training for the child with autism (e.g.,
capturing motivation, contriving motivation, The following provisions were in place to
providing prompts, fading prompts, differen- counter extraneous factors which could have
tially reinforcing child’s mands, making sure potentially acted as confounds on the depen-
that inappropriate behaviours that precede or dent variables: (a) training was provided to the
accompany targeted mands are not reinforced, coaches on the sensitized model only after they
and providing multiple opportunities for child finished implementing coaching with group 1
to mand). The items are worded in the first using the existing model; (b) both models were
person, from the perspective of the parent, for identified as ‘parent coaching’ to limit any
example: “I am able to create many opportuni- implications that one model might be inher-
ties for my child to request, in a day”; “I feel that ently superior to the other; (c) coaches were not
I am persistent in my attempts to interact with familiarized with the concept of self-efficacy;
my child”; and “I do not find it difficult to restrict and (d) all coaches had equal opportunities to
my child from freely accessing toys and activi- establish rapport with the children and the par-
ties.” Each item is answered on a 6-point scale ents before starting parent coaching.
with response options ranging from strongly
disagree to strongly agree. Higher scores reflect Interventions
higher self-efficacy in facilitating child’s mands.
Based on a sample of 51 mothers of children with Every parent who participated in this study
autism from the participating agency in this received 1:1 coaching in the presence of the child
study, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for this for two hours on a specific day of the week.
scale is .89.
The existing parent coaching model at the par-
Procedures ticipating agency identified sub-skills related to
adult competencies, such as: (a) capture child’s
Parent coaching is routinely offered to all par- motivation; (b) contrive child’s motivation; and
ents of children in the autism program at the (c)  provide prompts to the child. The coach
participating agency. On behalf of the research modeled each of the sub-skills, created rehears-
team, Senior Therapists (STs) provided infor- al opportunities for the parent to practice them,
mation on the study to parents who would soon and provided supportive feedback on the par-
be receiving coaching on facilitating mands ent’s performance. The coach maintained anec-
for their children. All participating parents dotal data on the parent’s performance to guide
gave informed consent. Approval to conduct the sessions. The coach faded the models across
this study was provided by the Client Services sessions as the parent’s competency increased
Management Committee at the participating for the targeted sub-skills. Parents in group 1
agency and the Board of Studies in Psychology received three months of coaching based on
at the University of Mysore, Karnataka, India. this model.

Participating parents were randomly assigned The literature has shown that change in paren-
to groups 1 and 2; each parent reported on tal self-efficacy depends on changes in the
the two self-efficacy measures just before and ratio of successes to failures in parenting and
immediately after receiving the coaching inter- in the subsequent reappraisal of competencies
ventions. The measures were distributed to the (Bandura, 1981). The existing model of parent
parents by the STs, who also collected the com- coaching is limited in its capacity to provide
pleted questionnaires and delivered them to these opportunities, and hence the sensitized
the research team in sealed envelopes. coaching model incorporated them into the
practices of modeling, rehearsal, and feedback.
All coaches were Instructor Therapists (ITs)
working for the agency, were supervised by In the sensitized model, each sub-skill in facili-
STs, and received training on the coaching tating the child’s mand is operationally defined
model at the agency. The coaches were matched in observable and measurable terms. For exam-
on the following variables: gender, education, ple: (a)  the parent identifies the child’s moti-

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 Sensitized Coaching and Parental Self-Efficacy
47
vation at a given time, communicates it to the support, and maintain it in a novel context with-
coach, and uses this information to initiate an out the coach’s support. Pre-existing criteria are
interaction with the child; (b) the parent creates established for acquisition and maintenance of
an opportunity for the child to mand by keep- sub-skills. Unlike the existing model of coach-
ing a item that is motivating for the child in ing, the sensitized coaching is not time-limited;
view, but out of reach; and (c) the parent evokes rather, it is criterion-based.
the mand from the child by providing the cor-
rect word, or helping him/her to form the sign Fidelity of Implementation
for the item or exchange a picture representing
the item. Coaching is provided through model-
of Coaching
ing; however, the coach fades the model within
each session and across sessions, by adhering to STs observed and gave feedback to the coaches
a 2:1 ratio of models vs. opportunities for inde- on both models of coaching in-vivo or through
pendent attempts on the sub-skills by the parent. videos on the coaching, on an average of two
Thus, the coach encourages the parent to try a times per month. In addition, the supervising
sub-skill independently after the skill has been STs rated a random sample of coaches on proce-
modeled a maximum of two times. At the inde- dural integrity for implementing the sensitized
pendent attempt, if the parent shows signs of not model of coaching on two separate occasions
being able to follow through, the coach models during the course of the intervention using a
the skill again for a maximum of two times, and rating scale of eight items developed by the
then again encourages the parent to try the skill research team. The results indicated that on
independently. The coach makes sure that at least each occasion, all coaches had 80% or above
half of the rehearsal opportunities involve gener- adherence to the prescribed procedures.
alization of skills by the parent to facilitate child’s
mands across time and place. Therefore, a par- Data Analysis
ent who facilitates the child’s mand to “swing” in
the backyard of their house must generalize this Descriptive statistics were used to report the
skill to the community park in the presence of mean and standard deviation scores of the two
the coach. The coach keeps track of parental per- groups of parents on the two measures of self
formance based on the operational definitions of efficacy, before and after the interventions.
each sub-skill, in the form of quantitative data. Repeated measures between-subjects ANOVA
The data is shared with the parent to help in self- was used to gather information on the inter-
appraisal of competence. Accordingly, the par- action effect of the two coaching models on
ent has to acquire each sub-skill with the coach’s parental self-efficacy.

Table 1. Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Groups on Self-Efficacy, Before and After Intervention

Group 1 Group 2
Variables M SD M SD
Task-specific
self-efficacy 65.47 5.79 64.07 9.21
(pre-intervention)
Task-specific
self-efficacy 68.20 8.84 74.07 7.60
(post-intervention)
Domain-general
self-efficacy 31.87 5.96 31.80 4.20
(pre-intervention)
Domain general
self-efficacy 31.00 3.87 34.60 4.60
(post-intervention)

v . 16 n .2
48 Raj & Salagame

Results points. Results of Levene’s Test for Equality of

Variances indicate that the two groups exhib-
Table 1 summarizes the descriptive statistics on ited homogeneity of variance in their pre-inter-
the sample. Parents in group 1 had an increase vention scores for task-specific (p  = .057) and
of 2.73 points in their mean score on task-spe- domain-general (p = .051) self-efficacy.
cific self-efficacy after the coaching interven-
tion, whereas parents in group 2 who received The main effect of intervention on task-spe-
sensitized coaching experienced a 10-point cific self-efficacy was statistically significant
increase. With respect to domain-general self- (F(1,28)  =  21.674; p  =  .000) as was the group by
efficacy, group 1 experienced a slight decrease intervention interaction (F(1,28) = 7.059; p = .013),
in the mean score after the intervention, where- where group 2 exhibited a significant increase
as group 2 experienced an increase of 2.80

76
pre
74
post
Mean Task-Specific Sell-Efficacy

72

70

68

66

64

62

60

58

Group 1 Group 2

Figure 1 Interaction effect between the groups and task-specific self-efficacy.

35

pre
Mean Domain-General Sell-Efficacy

34
post

33

32

31

30

29

Group 1 Group 2

Figure 2 Interaction effect between the groups and domain-general self-efficacy

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 Sensitized Coaching and Parental Self-Efficacy
49
in task-specific self-efficacy compared to subtle changes in domain-general self-efficacy.
group 1 (Figure 1). Another factor at play here could have been the
effect of vicarious experiences on pre-coaching
The main effect of intervention on domain-gen- level of parental self-efficacy, which, according
eral self-efficacy was not statistically significant to Bandura (1977), have a significant influence
(F(1,28) = 2.335; p = .138), therefore intervention on the development of self-efficacy. All moth-
did not have a significant effect on domain- ers in this study had observed therapy sessions
general self-efficacy. However, the group by on a regular basis before the introduction of
treatment interaction was statistically signifi- parent coaching; thus, they would have vicari-
cant (F(1,28) = 8.399; p = .007), where parents in ously lived the experiences of the therapists in
group 2 exhibited a significant increase in sessions. This in-turn might have established
domain-general self-efficacy compared to those a higher level of domain-general self-efficacy
in group 1 (Figure 2). for these mothers, limiting the capacity of the
intervention to further impact domain-general
self-efficacy.
Discussion
Overall, the results of this study support the
Learning environments that construe ability use of sensitizing parent-coaching models with
as an acquirable skill are well suited to build mothers of children with autism to enhance
a sense of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1993). In the their task-specific self-efficacy. However, this
sensitized coaching model, each sub-skill was study involved a small convenience sample
operationally defined in a measurable and of mothers; therefore, it will be necessary to
achievable way. Thus, both the parent and the apply the sensitized model to a larger sample
coach had a road map of how to acquire the of parents, and across different programs for
final target skill through small, achievable sub- children with autism to better understand its
skills. The sensitized model trained coaches to strengths and weaknesses. The participants in
fade their support systematically, thereby sup- this study were mothers of young children with
porting the parent to experience repeated suc- autism. Further investigation is also needed to
cess on tasks in order to raise their perception understand the impact of the sensitized coach-
of competence (Bandura, 1977), while at the ing model on self-efficacy of fathers of children
same time buffering dependence on the coach. with autism, and also of parents (mothers and
fathers) of older children with autism. As main-
The coach’s feedback to parents in the sensi- tenance of parental self-efficacy over time was
tized model was supplemented by data that not investigated in this study, the long-term
parents could use for self-appraisal of compe- efficiency of the sensitized model, specific to
tence. According to Bandura (1993), seeing one- parents maintaining their post-intervention
self gain progressive mastery strengthens per- levels of self-efficacy over time, is also an
ceived self-efficacy, fosters efficient thinking, important area of future investigation. In addi-
and enhances performance. While both models tion, the sensitized model should be applied to
provided opportunities for parents to rehearse additional tasks to confirm its robustness.
sub-skills, only the sensitized model provid-
ed opportunities for generalization to further Programs for children with autism, especially
allow parents to experience success in different behavioural intervention programs, are increas-
contexts and locations, and at different times. ing efforts to involve parents in the treatment of
their children. Self-efficacy has been identified
The sensitized model had less of an impact on as the strongest predictor of parent involvement
domain-general self-efficacy than on task-spe- in treatment (Solish & Perry, 2008). Parents who
cific self-efficacy. In comparison to the norms are more confident that they can make an effec-
from a neighbourhood sample of mothers of tive contribution and a difference in the lives
typical 4- to 6-year-old children (Johnston & of their children tend to be more involved in
Mash, 1989), mothers in both groups in the cur- the intervention. This involvement results in
rent study had higher pre-coaching mean self- positive outcomes for their children (Lovaas,
efficacy on the PSOC scale. Therefore, the tool 2003). Clinicians working with families of chil-
might not have had the sensitivity to measure dren with autism often make the observation

v . 16 n .2
50 Raj & Salagame

that parents who express a sense of competence Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in
tend to perceive the transition and discharge of cognitive development and functioning.
their children from autism programs as less Educational Psychologist, 28 (2), 117–148.
threatening compared to parents who express Coleman, P. K., & Karraker, K. H. (1997). Self-
concerns with their ability to manage their efficacy and parenting quality: Findings
children’s problems. In addition, the impact of and future applications. Developmental
enhanced self-efficacy on parental well-being Review, 18, 47–85.
cannot be overlooked, as interventions focused Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W.
on increasing feelings of self-efficacy in parents L. (2007). Applied Behaviour Analysis (2nd
of children with autism have positive effects on Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/
their mental health (Hastings & Brown, 2002). Prentice-Hall.
Feldman, M. A., & Werner, S. E. (2002).
Based on the results of this study, it may prove Collateral effects of behavioral parent
beneficial for autism programs to invest in training on families of children with
designing, applying, and validating interven- developmental disabilities and behavior
tions, such as sensitized coaching, that target disorders. Behavioral Interventions, 17, 75–83.
parenting behaviour through parenting cogni- Fleischmann, A. (2005). The hero’s story and
tions. At a time when programs are competing autism. Autism, 9 (3), 299–316.
for scant resources, those that promote inter- Gibaud-Wallston, J., & Wandersman, L. P.
ventions with far-reaching impact on parental (1978, August). Development and Utility
involvement in interventions and well-being of the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale.
may also be better poised to receive funding. Paper presented at the meeting of the
American Psychological Association,
Toronto, Ontario.
Acknowledgement Gilmore, L., & Cuskelly, M. (2009). Factor
structure of the Parenting Sense of
This study was conducted as part of Archana Competence scale using a normative
Raj’s doctoral thesis at University of Mysore, sample. Child: Care, Health and Development,
India. The authors wish to thank the parents, 35 (1), 48–55.
clients, staff, and management of Central West Hastings, R. P., & Brown, T. (2002). Behavior
Autism Intervention services, ErinoakKids for problems of children with autism, parental
the support and cooperation they extended to self-efficacy, and mental health. American
this study. Special thanks to Dr. David C. Factor Journal on Mental Retardation, 107 (3),
for reviewing the draft version of the manuscript. 222–232.
Johnston, C., & Mash, E. J. (1989). A measure of
parenting satisfaction and efficacy. Journal
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