This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), will fund a $242,290 research project conducted by Drexel University to establish a measure of fidelity for neurodiversity-affirming interventions (NAIs) focused on supporting the clinical and behavioral needs of autistic individuals.
The project aims to leverage qualitative interviews with autistic individuals and caregivers to develop a comprehensive, consensus-based fidelity measure for NAIs. This measure will assess implementation fidelity across three key stakeholder groups: autistic individuals, caregivers, and practitioners. The resulting fidelity tool will enable future research to examine the discrete and additive effects of NAI implementation on outcomes in various evidence-based and community-derived intervention settings serving the autism community. The project is scheduled to run from March 1, 2025 to February 28, 2027.