CONNECT: A Support Program for Families Following a Developmental Assessment

CONNECT follows a Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) framework. SFBT is short-term and evidence-based. It focusses on the solutions to the problem(s) experienced by the families, rather than the problem(s) themselves, by empowering and encouraging caregivers to achieve their goals. Participants will first have a baseline session with the study psychologists to discuss the report and recommendations received after their child's developmental assessment. Participants will then receive up to 4 x 45-60 minute, one-on-one sessions with one of the study psychologists. The sessions will be organised 1-3 weeks apart over a 4 month period as appropriate for the participants. As part of these sessions, the participants and psychologists will identify up to three goals that are related to caregiver and/or family functioning following their child's recent neurodevelopmental diagnosis. Then, the psychologist will provide participants with support within a SFBT framework that is tailored to the specific goals that they have identified. CONNECT is not a manualised intervention; instead, it is client-led. The techniques used within this framework may draw from other contemporary therapeutic modalities, such as Motivational Interviewing and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. These sessions may be held in-person at the university clinics, over the phone, or via teleconferencing depending on the participants' preferences. These sessions will be largely talk-therapy based with additional handouts and homework tasks as appropriate to the participant's circumstances. All sessions will be audio recorded to allow for an evaluation of the CONNECT psychologist's fidelity and adherence to the SFBT framework. Only a randomly selected subset of the audio recordings will be used for the fidelity evaluation. This will be completed by independent research team members through the development of a shared coding protocol, based on a checklist of SFBT principles.