Mortimer Rachel, Privopoulos Melinda, Kumar Saravana
International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
J Multidiscip Healthc. 2014 Feb 3;7:93-104. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S55345. eCollection 2014.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are increasing in prevalence. Children with ASDs present with impairments in social interactions; communication; restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, or activities; as well as motor delays. Hydrotherapy is used as a treatment for children with disabilities and motor delays. There have been no systematic reviews conducted on the effectiveness of hydrotherapy in children with ASDs.
We aimed to examine the effectiveness of hydrotherapy on social interactions and behaviors in the treatment of children with ASDs.
A systematic search of Cochrane, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, MEDLINE®, and Academic Search Premier was conducted. Studies of participants, aged 3-18 years, with ASDs at a high-functioning level were included if they utilized outcome measures assessing social interactions and behaviors through questionnaire or observation. A critical appraisal, using the McMaster Critical Review Form for Quantitative Studies, was performed to assess methodological quality.
Four studies of varying research design and quality met the inclusion criteria. The participants in these studies were aged between 3-12 years of age. The duration of the intervention ranged from 10-14 weeks, and each study used varied measures of outcome. Overall, all the studies showed some improvements in social interactions or behaviors following a Halliwick-based hydrotherapy intervention.
Few studies have investigated the effect of hydrotherapy on the social interactions and behaviors of children with ASDs. While there is an increasing body of evidence for hydrotherapy for children with ASDs, this is constrained by small sample size, lack of comparator, crude sampling methods, and the lack of standardized outcome measures. Hydrotherapy shows potential as a treatment method for social interactions and behaviors in children with ASDs.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的患病率正在上升。患有ASD的儿童存在社交互动障碍、沟通障碍、行为、兴趣或活动受限、重复及刻板模式，以及运动发育迟缓。水疗被用作治疗残疾和运动发育迟缓儿童的一种方法。尚未对水疗治疗ASD儿童的有效性进行系统评价。
我们旨在研究水疗对治疗ASD儿童社交互动和行为的有效性。
对Cochrane、CINAHL、PsycINFO、Embase、MEDLINE®和学术搜索高级版进行了系统检索。纳入年龄在3至18岁、功能水平较高的ASD参与者的研究，前提是这些研究使用通过问卷或观察评估社交互动和行为的结局指标。使用麦克马斯特定量研究批判性评价表进行批判性评价，以评估方法学质量。
四项研究设计和质量各异的研究符合纳入标准。这些研究中的参与者年龄在3至12岁之间。干预持续时间为10至14周，每项研究使用的结局指标各不相同。总体而言，所有研究均显示，基于哈立维克方法的水疗干预后，社交互动或行为有一定改善。
很少有研究调查水疗对ASD儿童社交互动和行为的影响。虽然有越来越多的证据支持对ASD儿童进行水疗，但这受到样本量小、缺乏对照、抽样方法粗糙以及缺乏标准化结局指标的限制。水疗显示出作为治疗ASD儿童社交互动和行为的一种治疗方法的潜力。
