"Parent training, in which providers train parents to address their child's maladaptive behavior or skill development, is an underutilized evidenced-based treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This mixed methods project examined the use of parent training as part of the Michigan Medicaid Autism Benefit, which covers applied behavior analysis (ABA) services for Medicaid-enrolled children with ASD under age 21 in Michigan. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were used to analyze Medicaid claims data for 879 children and survey data from 97 ABA providers who service Medicaid-enrolled children with ASD. Content analysis was used to analyze open-ended survey items and phenomenological analysis was used to analyze interviews from a subset of 13 providers. Results demonstrated that: a) frequency of parent training encounters was very low, with evidence to suggest that Hispanic/Latino children receive fewer encounters; b) ABA providers' conceptualization of parent training is inconsistent with the literature; c) providers report using evidence-based parent training strategies at a moderate-to-high level on the survey, but infrequently mention strategies in interviews; d) providers use sessions for other purposes; e) providers report having limited related training; f) providers report numerous barriers and facilitators which are related to their reported extensiveness of parent training; and g) parent training and family-centered care are significantly related. Implications for increasing use of parent training for this population are discussed."--Page ii.
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