CFT Guided Self-help Intervention: Parents of Autistic Children

Starting soon · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Autism Disorders and Maternal Stress, Autism, Autism Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autism in Children, Parent, Parent Mental Health, Parent Stress, Parent Support

In brief

This research will aim to test how practical, achievable and effective a brief, guided, self-help compassion focused intervention is for parents of autistic children aged 6-17 years old. The demands of parenting can be rewarding but also challenging, and it is known that parents of autistic children experience additional pressures. As a result of this, parents of autistic children may be more likely to experience increased stress, anxiety, low mood and lower quality of life, compared to those parenting children who are not autistic. There has been only a small amount of research so far regarding whether interventions that focus on building compassion, would be beneficial to parents of autistic children. The purpose of this study is to test whether a short, self-guided compassion-focused intervention is practical, achievable and effective for parents of autistic children. The intervention is based on Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and involves reading workbook material and listening to audio tracks. There will also be some questionnaires to complete and 30-minute weekly support calls with the lead researcher. This intervention was adapted previously, from an intervention for parents in general, to be more suitable and focused on the needs of parents of autistic children. This study will be the first time the adapted intervention has been used by parents. The intervention will be tested by 6-8 parents and will be about 13 weeks long. We will collect some demographic data at the start of the study, and there will be the opportunity to complete an evaluation questionnaire.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT07498049
Run by: University of Nottingham
People needed: 8
Starts: 2026-04-01
Expected to finish: 2027-09-01
Last updated by the study team: 2026-03-27

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

Participants must be a parent who lives with their autistic child. The parent must be aged 18 years and above and their child must be aged between 6 and 17 years old. The parent participant must have good use of the English language to provide informed consent, access the workbook material, listen to the audio tracks, engage verbally in the support telephone calls and change interviews and complete outcome measures. The child must have a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder as confirmed following assessment by a doctor or practitioner psychologist. Participants must be technology-literate and have access to technology to access video calls for screening and check-in calls as needed.

You may not qualify if…

Those who are currently receiving psychological or mental health input from professionals, those experiencing thoughts related to self-harm and/or suicide and those who are dependent on alcohol or drugs, those with a learning disability or other cognitive impairment will be excluded from this research.

Where it is running

University of Nottingham — Nottingham, United Kingdom

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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