Bloom: Evaluating the ability of a co-produced parent group to nurture young autistic children to flourish and thrive

Name: Bloom The content of Bloom was primarily informed by community perspectives and experiences, with additional underpinning content coming from the extant literature base reporting on factors that influence or impact Quality of Life in autistic children. The community perspectives and experiences were gained through over 70 hours of interviews with autistic adults and parents of autistic children. We also drew upon survey and interview data from 22 young autistic people who were asked about the factors that impact or influence their wellbeing. In conjunction with representatives from autistic-led and non-autistic led community organisations, this content was analysed to inform the main topics in Bloom. The paper describing these findings is being co-authored by the research team as well as representatives from autistic-led and non-autistic led community organisations. The intervention content and materials were drafted by the research team, which includes autistic and neurodivergent researchers and clinicians, neurotypical researchers and clinicians and researchers who are parents of autistic children. Representatives from autistic-led and non-autistic led community organisations were invited to review and provide feedback on multiple versions of the draft materials for each session as well as the final version of all materials for each session. Representatives from autistic-led and non-autistic led community organisations also provided the recommended resources which are shared with parents at the end of each session. They were able to provide feedback in any way that suited them (e.g. written, verbal) and were provided two weeks to review documents. Bloom was piloted with four parents of autistic children and their feedback sought after each session. This content was used to further refine the intervention materials and prepare them for the trial. Bloom consists of eight, two-hour sessions, delivered weekly. Up to 10 parents will be invited to attend each session. Groups will be delivered online or face-to-face. Parents are given a manual and workbook each week with includes a written summary of content discussed and places to complete the exercises (which can be typed into or printed off). The content of each session is manualised. Each session will be co-facilitated by a therapist (an allied health professional with strong knowledge of autism and training in Bloom) and an autistic co-facilitator (an Autistic adult with training in Bloom, and ideally some experience in supporting parents or advocacy), referred to as an Autistic Guide. Sessions consist of information presented by the faciltator or autistic guide, personal narratives from the autistic guide as illustrative real-life examples of the content covered (e.g. examples of the guide's deep interests, examples of ways that the guide has made strong connections with others), reflective exercises for parents (both independent and group based) and group discussions based on personal experience. No homework is set but parents are directed to "extra inspirational" content if they wish to complete additional exercises between sessions. The facilitator in each group has the role of taking attendance for each group, and following up with any parents who were not able to attend. Each session will be recorded and this will be used to check for fidelity.