Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (HMHF) is a program that educates and empowers mothers of children with disabilities to improve health behaviours. Outcomes were investigated in this study. A pre, post-test design was implemented using online questionnaires including the Health promoting activities scale (HPAS) and the Depressional anxiety stress…

Mothers of children with disabilities can experience compromised health. Targeted interventions require investigation to determine effectiveness. Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (HMHF) is a health, wellbeing and empowerment program that addresses mothers need to protect, and or, recover their own health due to caregiving impacts. This study…

Purpose: The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) is a group-based social skills training program for adolescents on the autism spectrum. Although the program has been shown to be effective in improving social skills in autistic adolescents, evidence of its effectiveness from the Mandarin-speaking Chinese…

Parents of children with developmental disabilities are susceptible to mental health problems. Mindfulness-based and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)-based interventions can improve their mental well-being. This review examined the effectiveness of mindfulness-based and ACT-based interventions in improving mental well-being and mindfulness…

Mindfulness-based therapies are rising in popularity. However, evidence for their effectiveness in reducing psychological distress and enhancing wellbeing for families living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited. A systematic search identified 10 independent studies, involving a pooled sample of 233 children and adults with ASD and 241…

Although there is growing interest in telehealth to deliver parent-mediated intervention for autistic children, empirical evaluations are limited, and little is known regarding the relative benefits of self-directed and therapist-assisted telehealth interventions. This study examined the effect of self-directed and therapist-assisted ImPACT Online…

This study examined the effects of an intervention to support parents and promote skill development in newly diagnosed toddlers with ASD. Participants included 50 children with ASD under 3 and their parents who were randomly assigned to participate in a 6-month intervention, Family Implemented TEACCH for Toddlers (FITT) or 6 months of community…

Autistic individuals often possess strengths and abilities. Despite these strengths, employment outcomes for this population remain low. Strengths-based programs, focusing on developing skills in a supportive environment, may enable autistic adolescents to more effectively prepare for the workforce. This study explores the principal components and…

This research explored parents' perceptions of the psychosocial outcomes of their children's experience of receiving equine-assisted interventions (EAI). Participants were the parents of six children (aged 3-14) diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted and the transcript data was analysed using…

High depression rates for adolescents with autism indicate a need for a comprehensive prevention approach. Parents can promote parent--child factors that buffer adolescents from depression. However, parenting adolescents with autism presents challenges which can diminish parental self-efficacy and mental wellbeing with potential negative sequelae…

Substantial evidence identifies mothers of children with a disability as having a higher risk for compromised health outcomes and lifestyle restrictions secondary to caring responsibilities. Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (HMHF) is an evidence informed health and empowerment group-based workshop program. Methods: HMHF features health education…