NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1473761
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jun
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2692-9384
Available Date: 2024-08-13
The Process of Co-Design for a New Anxiety Intervention for Autistic Children
Tasha Cullingham1; Una Rennard2; Cathy Creswell3; Damian Milton4; Karen Leneh Buckle5; Lucie Godber2; Kate Gordon6; Michael Larkin7; Jonathan Green1,8
JCPP Advances, v5 n2 e12255 2025
Background: Mental health difficulties are common for autistic people; however, almost no interventions have been co-designed with the autistic community. Co-design has the potential to add important insights from lived experience into intervention design, but there are currently limited examples of how rigorously to undertake this practice. This paper details a worked model of co-design and its process, focussed on adapting an evidenced parent-led intervention for non-autistic child anxiety (HYC), to meet the needs of young autistic children. The aim is to provide an example of co-design, integrating autistic, parental, academic, clinical, experience and expertise. Methods: Using prior literature and theory, including Experience-Based Co-Design, we developed an iterative and collaborative process between the research team and an expert reference group (ERG). The research team comprised autistic and non-autistic members. The ERG included parents (autistic and non-autistic) of autistic children with anxiety problems, autistic adults with experience of anxiety problems, and clinicians with experience supporting autistic children with anxiety problems. The ERG and research team reviewed information from qualitative research interviews with autistic children with anxiety problems and their parents along with information from clinical experience and the academic literature to reach consensus on the adapted intervention design. Results: The creation of a truly co-designed intervention that includes a neurodiversity-affirmative perspective, alongside CBT techniques. With anxiety problems experienced by autistic children being framed by combining the impacts of being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world, developmental science and well known cognitive behavioural models of child-anxiety. Conclusion: Co-design can help to integrate multiple perspectives and result in the creation of interventions that are potentially relevant and acceptable to autistic people, their family members, and clinicians.
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK; 2Expert by Experience; 3Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 4Tizard Centre, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK; 5Division of Psychology, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; 6Department of Neuropsychology, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Bracknell, UK; 7College of Health and Life Sciences, Birmingham, UK; 8Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK