Psychosocial Interventions for Parents of Adults with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Scoping Review

Overview: This review evaluated interventions to improve mental health for parents raising adults with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities. A systematic search identified 20 articles that met the inclusion criteria and, 70% of the articles reported statistically significant effective outcomes for improving stress, anxiety, depression, mental well-being, and caregiver burden.Proposal text: Neurodevelopmental disorders are impairments of the neurological system and the brain. Parents of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) are at an increased risk for mental health problems such as stress, depression, anxiety, deleterious effects on their overall mental health and well-being, and negative effects from caregiver burden which can threaten the services provided to their children. This scoping review analyzes psychosocial interventions to improve stress, anxiety, depression, mental well-being, and caregiver burden experienced by parents of adults with NDD; an underserved population.
This study followed a modified scoping framework, and the research objectives included summarizing individual study results, evaluating individual interventions, conducting a cross-study comparison, and reporting knowledge gaps. Six databases were searched (December 2019-March 2020), as well as an additional Google Scholar search (December 2020-January 2021). The inclusion criteria were satisfied if the participants identified as a parent of an adult (18 years or over) with either autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID) and if the intervention targeted specific parental psychosocial outcomes (stress, anxiety, depression, mental well-being, and caregiver burden).
The literature search followed PRISMA guidelines, and the final sample included 20 publications. All but four of the 20 manuscripts demonstrated intervention effectiveness. The findings reflected that the interventions for parents of adults with NDD are emerging, and 70% indicated that therapeutic supports were effective across the orientation (parent, child, or family-oriented), intervention modalities (e.g., mindfulness, education and support, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) or positive psychology), and delivery format (individual, group, and family). Most interventions resulted in improved parental mental health, most notably for White middle-class mothers. Multiple modalities, settings, and delivery methods demonstrated favorable short-term (< five months) outcomes. Parental psychosocial needs are heterogeneous; as mental wellness evolves through the life course; the most suitable intervention will change with the client's psychosocial requirements.
The findings indicate that peer facilitation, telehealth, and community-based care are effective intervention delivery methods. The literature gaps identified include a dearth of interventions for parents of young adults between the ages of 18-26 with NDD (especially minorities), a lack of a primary data set dedicated to serving these parents, and the need for cross-study measurement consistency.