Suzuki Kanae, Takagai Shu, Tsujii Masatsugu, Ito Hiroyuki, Nishimura Tomoko, Tsuchiya Kenji J
United Graduate School of Child Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
United Graduate School of Child Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan; Department of Contemporary Sociology, Chukyo University, Toyota, Japan; Research Centre for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
Brain Dev. 2019 Apr;41(4):341-351. doi: 10.1016/j.braindev.2018.11.005. Epub 2018 Nov 28.
Sensory processing difficulties, which commonly occur in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are expected to have negative effects on the primary caregiver's mental health. The aim of this study was to examine the association between sensory processing difficulties in children with ASD and the mental health of primary caregivers.
A total of 707 primary caregivers (mothers in the present study) and their children with ASD (4-18 years of age) participated in this study. Sensory processing difficulties were indexed using the Short Sensory Profile (SSP). The mental health of primary caregivers was indexed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12).
Higher scores on Auditory Filtering as measured with the SSP were associated with poorer mental health of primary caregivers, even after an adjustment for ASD symptom severity. Analyses of two age sub-groups, a young (4-10 years) and an old age group (11-18 years), revealed that higher scores on Tactile Sensitivity and Auditory Filtering were associated with poorer mental health of primary caregivers in younger children, whereas only higher scores on Auditory Filtering were associated with poorer mental health of primary caregivers in older children.
Our findings suggest that practitioners who support primary caregivers of children with ASD need to focus not only on the social and communication-related symptoms of the child but also on their specific sensory processing difficulties.
感觉统合困难在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中普遍存在，预计会对主要照顾者的心理健康产生负面影响。本研究的目的是探讨ASD儿童的感觉统合困难与主要照顾者心理健康之间的关联。
共有707名主要照顾者（本研究中为母亲）及其患有ASD的儿童（4 - 18岁）参与了本研究。使用《简短感觉统合量表》（SSP）对感觉统合困难进行评分。使用《一般健康问卷》（GHQ12）对主要照顾者的心理健康进行评分。
即使在对ASD症状严重程度进行调整之后，用SSP测量的听觉过滤得分较高仍与主要照顾者较差的心理健康相关。对两个年龄亚组（一个是年幼组（4 - 10岁），另一个是年长组（11 - 18岁））的分析表明，触觉敏感度和听觉过滤得分较高与年幼儿童的主要照顾者较差的心理健康相关，而在年长儿童中，只有听觉过滤得分较高与主要照顾者较差的心理健康相关。
我们的研究结果表明，为患有ASD儿童的主要照顾者提供支持的从业者不仅需要关注儿童的社交和沟通相关症状，还需要关注他们具体的感觉统合困难。
