5 - (SYM 5) Creating Community: lessons from a Culturally Sensitive Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) Training of Black & Latinx Clinicians Servicing Black & Latinx Families with Autistic Children

Disparities exist for underserved Black/Latinx autistic children to access culturally sensitive Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), an evidence based treatment (EBT) that effectively improves accompanying disruptive behaviors, communication deficits, & adaptive social behaviors. With the intent of ameliorating such disparities, an academic-community partnership funded & implemented PCIT training for predominantly Black/Latinx clinicians with the aim of addressing inequitable access to PCIT due to: 1) insufficient trained Black/Latinx clinicians emanating from the communities they serve & 2) financial barriers to receiving training among 12 Black (66.7%), Latinx (25%), & Asian Indian (8.3%) clinicians, who predominantly served Black/Latinx families with neurodivergent & neurotypical children displaying disruptive behaviors. Clinicians were largely female (66.7 %) with 8.83-yrs clinical experience, & 25% reporting doing therapy in Spanish & English. Agency administrators (n=3) were also invited to audit trainings to increase investment, knowledge, & sustainability. The pilot’s aim was to implement a culturally sensitive enhanced PCIT training model using a racial/ethnic matching paradigm of trainer/trainees consistent with proven successful treatment models of ethnic/racial matching for clinician/client.  Culturally sensitive adaptations to PCIT was poised to respect, appreciate, & incorporate cultural nuances of Black/Latinx families’ (with autistic children) lived experience; addressing inherent systemic discrimination & subsequent trauma, based on intersectional identities as a doubly minoritized group of color with disabilities. I.e. autistic children of color demonstrating symptomatic disruptive behaviors, may be at added risk for life-threatening interactions with public officials. Results indicated clinicians demonstrated significant improvements in ASD knowledge (pre 5 day initial training-: N=12, M=16.54, SD= 2.67; post 2 day advance training)-: N=8, M=19.75, SD= 1.75; t(7) = -3.31, p =.004).  Most clinicians (83.3%) either agreed/strongly agreed that PCIT was a clear & understandable intervention & easy to use with Black/Latinx families, with 50% agreeing PCIT was likely to produce improvements in their Black/Latinx families. Clinicians unanimously either agreed/strongly agreed that PCIT could be adapted to meet the unique experiences of their Black/Latinx clients.  Lastly, 33.3% of clinicians agreed that PCIT was more convenient for Black/Latinx families than other therapies.