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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge for everyone, particularly for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a developmental disorder characterised by limitations in social communication, repetitive behavioural patterns, and limited interests, and activities....

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Autores principales: Dekker, Linda, Hooijman, Linde, Louwerse, Anneke, Visser, Kirsten, Bastiaansen, Dennis, Ten Hoopen, Leontine, De Nijs, Pieter, Dieleman, Gwen, Ester, Wietske, Van Rijen, Susan, Truijens, Femke, Van der Hallen, Ruth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8795917/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35078834
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049336
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author Dekker, Linda
Hooijman, Linde
Louwerse, Anneke
Visser, Kirsten
Bastiaansen, Dennis
Ten Hoopen, Leontine
De Nijs, Pieter
Dieleman, Gwen
Ester, Wietske
Van Rijen, Susan
Truijens, Femke
Van der Hallen, Ruth
author_facet Dekker, Linda
Hooijman, Linde
Louwerse, Anneke
Visser, Kirsten
Bastiaansen, Dennis
Ten Hoopen, Leontine
De Nijs, Pieter
Dieleman, Gwen
Ester, Wietske
Van Rijen, Susan
Truijens, Femke
Van der Hallen, Ruth
author_sort Dekker, Linda
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge for everyone, particularly for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a developmental disorder characterised by limitations in social communication, repetitive behavioural patterns, and limited interests, and activities. It is expected that many families with children with ASD will experience more problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the related public health restrictions. At the same time, some may experience improved functioning, due to fewer expectations and social demands. METHODS/DESIGN: In a mixed-method study to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents of children with ASD (ages 4–21) who were in care pre-COVID-19 at one of three large mental healthcare institutions in the region of Rotterdam participated (68 for T0, 57 for T1). The aims are (1) to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on overall functioning and autistic symptoms of the child/adolescent with ASD, as well as parental and family functioning (QUANT-QUAL), in both the short term and longer term, and (2) to investigate risk and protective factors (in light of resilience) (QUANT-qual) and (3) to investigate care and informational needs (QUAL-quant). Pre-COVID-19 baseline data will be retrieved from clinical records. Participants will fill out two surveys (one during a COVID-19 peak—January–May 2021—and one thereafter). Survey participants were invited to participate in interviews (n=27). Surveys include measures thar were included pre-COVID-19 (ie, overall functioning and autism symptoms) as well as specific measures to identify family functioning and COVID-19 impact. The semistructured interviews focus on child, parent and family functioning and care—and informational needs. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The Medical Ethics Committee of the Erasmus MC has approved the study. Findings will be available to families of children with ASD, their care providers, the funders, autism societies, the government and other researchers.
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spelling pubmed-87959172022-01-28 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol Dekker, Linda Hooijman, Linde Louwerse, Anneke Visser, Kirsten Bastiaansen, Dennis Ten Hoopen, Leontine De Nijs, Pieter Dieleman, Gwen Ester, Wietske Van Rijen, Susan Truijens, Femke Van der Hallen, Ruth BMJ Open Mental Health BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge for everyone, particularly for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a developmental disorder characterised by limitations in social communication, repetitive behavioural patterns, and limited interests, and activities. It is expected that many families with children with ASD will experience more problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the related public health restrictions. At the same time, some may experience improved functioning, due to fewer expectations and social demands. METHODS/DESIGN: In a mixed-method study to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents of children with ASD (ages 4–21) who were in care pre-COVID-19 at one of three large mental healthcare institutions in the region of Rotterdam participated (68 for T0, 57 for T1). The aims are (1) to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on overall functioning and autistic symptoms of the child/adolescent with ASD, as well as parental and family functioning (QUANT-QUAL), in both the short term and longer term, and (2) to investigate risk and protective factors (in light of resilience) (QUANT-qual) and (3) to investigate care and informational needs (QUAL-quant). Pre-COVID-19 baseline data will be retrieved from clinical records. Participants will fill out two surveys (one during a COVID-19 peak—January–May 2021—and one thereafter). Survey participants were invited to participate in interviews (n=27). Surveys include measures thar were included pre-COVID-19 (ie, overall functioning and autism symptoms) as well as specific measures to identify family functioning and COVID-19 impact. The semistructured interviews focus on child, parent and family functioning and care—and informational needs. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The Medical Ethics Committee of the Erasmus MC has approved the study. Findings will be available to families of children with ASD, their care providers, the funders, autism societies, the government and other researchers. BMJ Publishing Group 2022-01-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8795917/ /pubmed/35078834 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049336 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Mental Health
Dekker, Linda
Hooijman, Linde
Louwerse, Anneke
Visser, Kirsten
Bastiaansen, Dennis
Ten Hoopen, Leontine
De Nijs, Pieter
Dieleman, Gwen
Ester, Wietske
Van Rijen, Susan
Truijens, Femke
Van der Hallen, Ruth
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol
title Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol
title_full Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol
title_fullStr Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol
title_full_unstemmed Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol
title_short Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol
title_sort impact of the covid-19 pandemic on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their families: a mixed-methods study protocol
topic Mental Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8795917/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35078834
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049336
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