A scoping review of the caregiver training literature for individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Both caregiver training and the collection of social validity data are considered to be important and integral part of applied behavior analytic treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Previous reviewers have offered repeated calls for increased frequency of social validity data collection but recently, the increased understanding and focus on equitable and culturally responsive behavior analytic treatment have again highlighted the importance of social validity data collection. One recent review of behavior analytic treatments for children of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds conducted an in‐depth analysis of social validity data collection. The authors found generally vague descriptions of social validity provided as well as data collected primarily after a study was conducted. No previous caregiver training reviews have specifically evaluated socially validity data collection within the context of caregiver training nor have they evaluated cultural responsiveness of the treatments. The current scoping review evaluated general findings on caregiver training as well as expanded the scope of previous reviews by providing an analysis of social validity data collection in caregiver training and variables to consider when providing culturally responsive treatment.