Children with autism spectrum disorder in high technology medicine environments; a qualitative systematic review of parental perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Children with autism spectrum disorders are frequent visitors to high technology environments, and their needs may differ from those of their typically developed peers. Procedures in high technology environments can constitute a challenge for these children and their parents since the environment presents many challenges relevant to the child's impairments. This systematic review aimed to explore the experiences of children with autism spectrum disorders and their parents during procedures in a high technology environment. METHODS: The following sources were searched for this systematic review: Cochrane CENTRAL Trials, CINAHL, Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection. The search terms included variants of the following concepts: (1) children with autism spectrum disorder and/or their parents and (2) anesthesia or radiographic departments. Publications were not limited by date or study design. RESULT: Out of 13,389 bibliographic records, nine studies were eligible for synthesis. After another search in October 2022, one additional study was eligible for synthesis.None of the studies reported children's experiences, and all ten reported their parents' experiences. Only one study was conducted in a radiographic context. Parents' experiences were both positive and negative and were categorized into two main categories: (1) challenges in a new environment and (2) health care professionals' approaches. CONCLUSION: Studies describing children's experiences with procedures in high technology environments are lacking. The parents described a need for health care professionals to work in structured ways with their child and to be able to make suitable adaptations. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: This systematic review was registered in advance on the Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5TXWJ .

Healthcare professionals' experiences of situations during a procedure with a child with autism spectrum disorder in the high-technology environment.

BACKGROUND: High technological environments can be challenging for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), because they can be sensitive to new environments, new faces and changes in daily routines. Those children are frequent visitors in those settings, and due to their heightened healthcare needs and their comorbidities, it could constitute a challenge for healthcare professionals to encounter those children. Exploring the healthcare professionals' experiences can contribute to facilitate the procedure for a child with ASD. METHOD: A qualitative descriptive retrospective design with a critical incident technique has been used to capture the situations. Twenty healthcare professionals were interviewed about situations affecting the procedure in the high-technology environments, defined as anaesthesia and radiology departments. RESULT: The findings revealed both favourable situations and unfavourable situations affecting the procedure in the high-technology environment. The situations described by the healthcare professionals often involved their interactions with the child and the parents. The interactions were influenced by the parents' attitudes to the procedure and also the healthcare professionals and the parents' different expectations on the procedure. Other experiences described by the healthcare professionals were the unpredictability in different situations. Those situations were related to the child's unpredictable behaviour in those environments and also to the unpredictable effect of premedication provided to the child. Moreover, the result revealed the organizational prerequisites for facilitating a procedure, such as not feeling any time pressure when leading a child through a procedure. CONCLUSIONS: Interactions between healthcare professionals, children with ASD and parents in the high-technology environment are complex. Unpredictability characterizes situations when leading a child with ASD through a procedure. This place demands on the healthcare professional, the environment and the organization.

Barriers and facilitators to participation for children and adolescents with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries - A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Research has shown that all children and adolescents have the right to participate in their everyday life. However, little is known about what impacts the participation of children and adolescents with disabilities living in low-and middle-income countries. OBJECTIVE: The present study undertakes a scoping review of research to synthesise the current literature about barriers and facilitators to participation in everyday life for children and adolescents with disabilities living in low- and middle-income countries. METHOD: A scoping review was conducted. The databases Psyc INFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Pubmed, ERIC and African Wide information were searched for studies published between 2001 and April 2018. Data was analysed using deductive content analysis. The barriers and facilitators to participation were categorised into personal factors, social factors, environmental factors, and policy and programme factors. RESULT: In the end, 17 articles were included for data extraction as they mentioned barriers and facilitators to participation for children and adolescents with disabilities. Most of the reviewed studies reported on barriers to participation. Only one of the studies was performed in a country classified as a low-income country; all other studies were performed in middle-income countries. The results indicate that some factors, especially social factors, could be perceived as both facilitators and barriers to participation. CONCLUSION: There is a lack of studies describing barriers and facilitators in low- and middle- income countries. Barriers and facilitators in proximity to the child and family are most frequently described in the literature.

Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Anesthesia and Radiographic Context.

OBJECTIVE: As a primary objective, this study purports to develop guidelines to better care for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly regarding these children's preparation for anesthesia and radiologic procedures. METHODS: Using a Delphi method with an online distribution of questionnaire, guidelines for caring for children with ASD were created. Twenty-one participants were included in the expert panel. These participants were working with children with ASD in several anesthesia and radiology departments in Sweden. A list of items was created from a previous survey and the literature. In the first round, the items with <60% agreement were discarded. Items were merged, and a new list was created. Two more similar rounds were performed. In the last 2 rounds, 21 participants responded, and 80% agreement was considered to be consensus. RESULTS: The final guidelines consisted of 14 items and a checklist of 16 factors. The 5 areas covered by the items and the checklist were as follows: planning involving parents/guardians, features in the environment, and use of time, communication, and the health care professionals. The organization was important in making it possible for the health care professional to care for the individual child according to the child's needs. It was important to involve the parents/guardians to obtain knowledge about the functioning of the child. CONCLUSION: A caring encounter involving a child with ASD in the anesthesia and radiology contexts requires advance planning, catered specifically to the individual needs of each child. To accomplish this, general knowledge regarding ASD and ASD's particular manifestation in the child entrusted to their care is required from the health care workers. The organization needs to have structures in place to facilitate this process.

Nurse anaesthetists' experiences with pre-operative anxiety.

AIMS: To explore nurse anaesthetists' experiences and actions when administering and caring for children requiring anaesthesia. METHOD: A qualitative design employing critical incident technique was used. Interviews were carried out with a purposeful sample of nurse anaesthetists (n=32). The nurse anaesthetists' experiences were grouped into two main areas: organisation focused and interrelational focused. Actions were grouped into two main areas: optimising the situation and creating interpersonal interaction. FINDINGS: The categories and subcategories of the nurses' experiences appeared to influence the outcome for the child. The nurse anaesthetists' first priority was to create an optimal environment and increase sensitivity in their interactions with the child. CONCLUSION: Sensitivity to the child and flexibility in altering actions are key strategies to avoid physical restraint.