Background:
Currently, 1 out of 88 children are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), andthe estimated cost for treatment services is $126 billion annually. Typically, ASD communityproviders (ASD-CPs) provide services to children with any severity of ASD symptoms usinga combination of various treatment paradigms, some with an evidence-base and somewithout. When evidence-based practices (EBPs) are successfully implemented by ASD-CPs,they can result in positive outcomes. Despite this promise, EBPs are often implementedunsuccessfully and other treatments used by ASD-CPs lack supportive evidence, especiallyfor school-age children with ASD. While it is not well understood why ASD-CPs are notimplementing EBPs, organizational and individual characteristics likely play a role. As aresponse to this need and to improve the lives of children with ASD and their families, thisstudy aims to develop and test the feasibility and acceptability of the Autism Model ofImplementation (AMI) to support the implementation of EBPs by ASD-CPs.
Methods:
An academic-community collaboration developed to partner with ASD-CPs will facilitate thedevelopment of the AMI, a process specifically for use by ASD community-based agencies.Using a mixed methods approach, the project will assess agency and individual factors likelyto facilitate or hinder implementing EBPs in this context; develop the AMI to addressidentified barriers and facilitators; and pilot test the AMI to examine its feasibility andacceptability using a specific EBP to treat anxiety disorders in school-age children with ASD.DiscussionThe AMI will represent a data-informed approach to facilitate implementation of EBPs byASD-CPs by providing an implementation model specifically developed for this context. Thisstudy is designed to address the real-world implications of EBP implementation in ASDcommunity-based agencies. In doing so, the AMI will help to provide children with ASD thebest and most effective services in their own community. Moreover, the proposed study willpositively impact the field of implementation science by providing an empirically supportedand tested model of implementation to facilitate the identification, adoption, and use of EBPs.