Can the parent training technique reduce parental stress in the food selectivity of children with autism spectrum?

INTRODUCTION: In recent years there has been a notable increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder with the most frequently associated behavior of Food Selectivity, as the restricted diet to few or very few foods and the aversion to specific flavors, colors, textures or temperatures of food. Furthermore, it has been reported that the increase in negative behaviors of children during meals is directly proportional to the increase in parental stress and caregivers who are unable to cope with such situations. The aim of this study was to summarize the results of the main studies that investigate the effectiveness of the Parent Training approach in the management of parental stress involved in these conditions.EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: The bibliographic research was conducted from March 2020 to May 2020, through the consultation of the main scientific databases, as: Medline, Pubmed, PsycINFO, Cinahl, Scopus, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library. The key words have been defined with the respective synonyms of the terms MESH: infant, child, children, teen, adolescent, autism spectrum disorder, autistic disorder, food selectivity, eating disorders, feeding disorders, feeding behavior, eating behavior, parent training, and mealtime behavior.EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Twenty-one articles were found from the research because they are relevant to the research question.CONCLUSIONS: From the selected studies emerged that the parent training can be considered as an effective behavioral strategy in the treatment of food selectivity in children suffering autism spectrum.