Trial of Autism Parent Navigator Program

Test of an Innovative, Scalable Support Program for Parents With a Young Child Recently Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04744428

Acronym

APN

Enrollment

360

Registered

2021-02-09

Start date

2021-03-25

Completion date

2026-03-31

Last updated

2026-01-21

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Brief summary

To address the dual needs of parents for support in navigating Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) services and maintaining positive family functioning, the investigators propose to test Autism Parent Navigators (APN), an innovative in-home, peer support model for parents with a young child recently diagnosed with ASD.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALAutism Parent Navigators

The Autism Parent Navigator program consists of six sessions delivered to parents in the home, supporting adjustment to ASD, accessing services, and coparenting support.

BEHAVIORALPeer mentoring

Six in-home or telephone sessions, depending on family uptake, providing non-manualized general support as usual from parent peer mentors regarding adjustment to ASD.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

2 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Parents of children who have been newly diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). * The child will be age 2-6 years and been diagnosed with ASD in the past four months. * The child is the first child in the family to be diagnosed with ASD. * Parents are not already involved in a parent mentoring relationship. * Parents are currently involved in a couple relationship, including same-sex partners, dating couples, adoptive parents and step-parent families.

Exclusion criteria

None

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Weekly Count of Service Navigation Behaviors	12 month	Engagement with ASD-related Services
Parenting Scale (Arnold)	12 month	Parenting consistency, warmth
CES-Depression	12 month	Parent depression

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Coparenting Relationship Scale (Feinberg, Brown, & Kan, 2012)	12 month	Coparenting Support
Family Empowerment Scale - FES	12 month	Parent Efficacy regarding Service Access
PDD-BI	12 month	Challenging Child Behaviors: Aggression, Non-compliance

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORMark Feinberg, PhD

Penn State

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026