{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T09:27:02Z","timestamp":1770802022643,"version":"3.50.0"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]],"date-time":"2026-01-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768521600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,10]],"date-time":"2026-02-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770681600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":25,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Armed Forces Medical Research Committee, Ministry of Defence, Government of India","award":["AFMRC Project No: 5337\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AFMRC Project No: 5337\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often face unmet needs in psychoeducation, skill-building, and coping with behavioral challenges, particularly in low-resource or task-sharing settings. Existing parent-mediated interventions are either intensive, specialist-led, or focus primarily on psychoeducation, leaving gaps in structured caregiver training and support for parental well-being. Therefore, we aimed to develop an early, play-based, parent-mediated intervention program integrating Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBI) and structured play-based strategies to enhance caregiver competence and child developmental outcomes, tailored for use in resource-scarce, brief outpatient settings.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The current study reports the qualitative phase of a broader mixed-methods, proof-of-concept investigation conducted at a premier medical college and its affiliated tertiary hospital within the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), India. Focus group discussions\u00a0were conducted with purposively selected primary stakeholders (five professionals and five parents of children ASD) supplemented by expert validation to develop a play-based, parent-mediated intervention. Only qualitative findings from the program development phase are presented; quantitative feasibility and outcome data will be reported separately. Thematic analysis of detailed field notes informed program adaptation. The CARER (Communication &amp; social skills, Autism, Restricted and repetitive behaviors management, Empowerment of caregivers, and Responsive play) intervention program was structured into 12 outpatient sessions (45\u201360\u00a0min each), incorporating psychoeducation, modeling, guided parent\u2013child practice, barrier-solving, home tasks, and strategies addressing parental stress. Credibility was ensured through investigator triangulation and member checking, with reporting aligned to Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) guidelines.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Thematic analysis to understand stakeholders\u2019 perspectives revealed four core domains: (i) psychoeducation, (ii) caregiver training needs, (iii) educational needs of the child, and (iv) parental stress. The CARER program operationalizes these themes into structured, play-based sessions targeting communication, social interaction, restricted and repetitive behaviors, sensory issues, and caregiver empowerment. The program emphasizes parent-mediated delivery and home generalization of skills, balancing feasibility in outpatient settings with developmental relevance for children with ASD.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The CARER program represents an early, brief, and pragmatically designed outpatient parent-mediated intervention framework to support families of young children with ASD. Further piloting and systematic evaluation in larger samples across similar low-resource settings are needed to assess feasibility, acceptability, fidelity of delivery, and potential clinical impact, and to inform ongoing adaptation.<\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic>Trial registration<\/jats:italic>\n                      : AFMRC PROJECT NO :5337 \/2020\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13034-026-01027-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]],"date-time":"2026-01-16T08:07:37Z","timestamp":1768550857000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["CARER program for autism spectrum disorder: a formative qualitative study on developing an early play-based, parent-mediated intervention in the Indian context"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Arun Singh","family":"Yadav","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lakshmi","family":"Sravanti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vinay Singh","family":"Chauhan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Harpreet","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Arul","family":"Velusamy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rajendra Kiragasur","family":"Madegowda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"1027_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"400","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mjafi.2017.09.008","volume":"73","author":"M Kanitkar","year":"2017","unstructured":"Kanitkar M. Health care for children in Indian Armed Forces. Med J Armed Forces India. 2017;73(4):400\u20133. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.mjafi.2017.09.008.","journal-title":"Med J Armed Forces India"},{"issue":"6","key":"1027_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7759\/cureus.62753","volume":"16","author":"P Uke","year":"2024","unstructured":"Uke P, Gaikwad S, Vagha K, Wandile S. Unraveling the spectrum: a comprehensive review of autism spectrum disorder in India. Cureus. 2024;16(6):e62753. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7759\/cureus.62753.","journal-title":"Cureus"},{"issue":"7","key":"1027_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2019","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-015-2364-2","volume":"45","author":"JM Davis","year":"2015","unstructured":"Davis JM, Finke EH. The experience of military families with children with autism spectrum disorders during relocation and separation. 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The professionals and parents were provided with written and verbal explanations of the purpose and procedures of the study. Written informed consent were taken from all the participants. Anonymity and confidentiality were maintained.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"The consent obtained from participants included consent for publication of their data within written reports.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"19"}}