Assessing the quality of care and service trajectories in autism from families’ perspective: Early intervention and interim services

Background: Following the Evaluation of the Autism Trajectory for Parents – Diagnostic Services (ETAP-1), the ETAP-2 instrument was created to assess the quality of the post-diagnostic phase of the care and service trajectory of families of children with autism. The instrument, based on an integrated care perspective, was developed with the input of multiple stakeholders (parents, service providers, researchers). Aims: This study sought to evaluate the factor structure, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of ETAP-2. Methods and procedures: Parents (N = 197) of children recently diagnosed with autism (M = 5.1 years) were recruited from an assessment center and organizations providing early behavioral intervention and other supports for autism in the province of Québec, Canada. They completed the ETAP-2 questionnaire along with measures of satisfaction and family quality of life. Outcomes and results: The instrument presented a five-construct structure generally consistent with previously identified dimensions of quality, except for three items previously associated with the continuity of the service trajectory. ETAP-2 had excellent internal consistency and demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity with other measures. Conclusions and implications: ETAP-2 is a brief parent-report measure with good psychometric properties. It can assist in gathering information on families’ perception and experiences with early intervention and other post-diagnostic, interim services.