Moran, Erin Olivia; (2020) The feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a manualized training program to teach ABA strategies to university students in Eastern Kazakhstan. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Individuals with autism and their families often face challenges, including stigma, discrimination, and unequal access to education are common. Interventions based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) show the most promise for improving outcomes for autistic individuals, however, these services are often inaccessible to families living outside the United States due to a lack of qualified professionals and a lack of training programs for local professionals. This is the case in Eastern Kazakhstan, where not only are there are no formally qualified professionals in ABA, there is an overall lack of trained teachers and psychologists to work with children with autism. Little information regarding autism diagnosis, provisions, and parental support in Kazakhstan exists. This thesis explored the experiences of mothers of children with autism and other developmental disabilities in Kazakhstan. 12 mothers participated in semi-structured interviews and four themes emerged and are examined. The main study in this thesis sought to address the lack of training programs. Due to the parent reported ‘poor attitudes’ of in-service teachers, pre-service university students were targeted. A manualized training programme was developed to teach university students to implement ABA strategies. Due to the lack of trained professionals, mothers of children with autism delivered the training. The training manuals were scripted and structured based on behavioural skills training. 10 training sessions were delivered to 21 university students over a two-week period. Pre- and post-training competency assessments showed that the training was effective in teaching the university students to perform ABA strategies in role play scenarios. A follow-up study was conducted at a local centre to determine of the skills taught in the training programme would generalize to use with children with autism. While the follow-up revealed that the short-term training programme was successful in teaching ABA skills, the participants made errors when implementing them in applied settings 4 highlighting the need for highly trained professionals to oversee ABA services. Implications for short-term and international training programmes are discussed.

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