Training for the Trainers to enhance Psychosocial Effectiveness in Children with Autism: A Systematic Review

Review Article

Abstract

Psychosocial interventions play a crucial role in improving social communication, emotional regulation and adaptive behaviour in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, limited availability of trained professionals restricts large-scale implementation. The Training for Trainers (TTT) model has emerged as a scalable approach to enhance intervention delivery by training caregivers, teachers and community workers. Therefore, present study was planned to systematically review evidence on the effectiveness of TTT models in improving psychosocial outcomes among children with ASD. Electronic databases including pubmed, psycinfo, ERIC and Google Scholar were searched. Studies involving a structured TTT approach for psychosocial interventions targeting children with ASD were included. Eleven empirical studies and three review papers were identified. Findings suggest that TTT models improve trainer fidelity, trainee competence and lead to small-to-moderate improvements in children's social and communication outcomes. Ongoing supervision and coaching significantly enhanced effectiveness. So it can be concluded that TTT models are effective and feasible strategies for scaling psychosocial interventions for children with ASD, especially in low-resource settings.