title: Parent skills training for parents of children or adults with developmental disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Developmental disorders, including intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders, may limit an individual's capacity to conduct daily activities. The emotional and economic burden on families caring for an individual with a developmental disorder is substantial, and quality of life may be limited by a lack of services. Therefore, finding effective treatments to help this population should be a priority. Recent work has shown parent skills training interventions improve developmental, behavioural and family outcomes. The purpose of this review protocol is to extend previous findings by systematically analysing randomised controlled trials of parent skills training programmes for parents of children with developmental disorders including intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders and use meta-analytic techniques to identify programme components reliably associated with successful outcomes of parent skills training programmes.
  
  
  METHODS
  We will include all studies conducted using randomised control trials designs that compare a group of parents receiving a parent skills training programme to a group of parents in a no-treatment control, waitlist control or treatment as usual comparison group. To locate studies, we will conduct an extensive electronic database search and then use snowball methods, with no limits to publication year or language. We will present a narrative synthesis including visual displays of study effects on child and parental outcomes and conduct a quantitative synthesis of the effects of parent skills training programmes using meta-analytic techniques.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  No ethical issues are foreseen and ethical approval is not required given this is a protocol for a systematic review. The findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and international conference presentations. Updates of the review will be conducted, as necessary, to inform and guide practice.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  PROSPERO (CRD42014006993).
authors.affiliation: University Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reichow
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
authors.forename: Cary
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kogan
authors.affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health and Service Evaluation, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barbui
authors.affiliation: Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut, USA University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M Taghi
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Yasamy
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Servili
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012107:Research Design; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic