The effectiveness and quality of early assistance to children and their families in the social protection system of Moscow: parents’ opinion

Objective. The work is aimed at studying the opinion of parents on the effectiveness and quality of early intervention services. Methods and materials. The respondents were parents attending the early intervention service for more than 6 months. The age of the parents (258 mothers and 3 fathers) ranged from 22 to 53 years (N = 261; M = 35.9; SD = 5.6). Distribution of children by diagnoses: cerebral palsy — 35, Down syndrome — 20, speech delay — 23, autism and other autism spectrum disorders — 31, others — 152. The age of children was from 8 to 56 months (N = 261; M = 33.9; SD = 9.9). A questionnaire was used, including open and closed questions. Results. Positive dynamics in the child’s condition was revealed in 95.2% of cases, in the condition of the parent and family — in 90% of cases. A high average level of satisfaction with the quality of services and willingness to recommend the early intervention service to other parents was revealed (M = 9.2 and M = 9.6 on a scale of 1–10). A significant positive impact of psychological counseling of parents receiving early assistance services on their emotional state (p = 0.0008) and self-confidence as a parent (p = 0.0128) was shown.