McLay Laurie, Hansen Sarah G, Carnett Amarie, France Karyn G, Blampied Neville M
University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Georgia State University, USA.
Autism. 2020 Oct;24(7):1829-1840. doi: 10.1177/1362361320924216. Epub 2020 Jun 6.
Sleep problems are commonly reported among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Without effective treatment, such problems are unlikely to resolve. To date, we know very little about how and why parents of children with ASD seek help for sleep disturbance. Via an online survey, we gathered information about how parents make sense of their children's sleep problems, beliefs about their causes, sources of information, and help-seeking behavior. The analysis of responses from 244 parents revealed that parents commonly view sleep problems (a) as a consequence of their child's ASD, and unlikely to change over time (stable), and (b) as located within the child (intrinsic), stable over time, and difficult to treat. Despite this, parents also rated sleep problems as being important to treat. Eighty-two percent of parents surveyed reported seeking some kind of help for their child's sleep disturbance, and the average parent had tried six different treatment strategies, most commonly medical approaches (e.g. melatonin). The alignment between parents' treatment choices and those strategies that are supported by research was poor, but belief in the effectiveness of treatments was closely related to how often the treatment was used. These findings have important implications for parental education and clinical practice in the treatment of sleep problems in children with ASD.
睡眠问题在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的家长中普遍存在。若没有有效的治疗，这些问题不太可能得到解决。到目前为止，我们对ASD儿童的家长如何以及为何为睡眠障碍寻求帮助知之甚少。通过一项在线调查，我们收集了有关家长如何理解孩子的睡眠问题、对其成因的看法、信息来源以及寻求帮助行为的信息。对244位家长的回复分析显示，家长通常认为睡眠问题（a）是孩子ASD的结果，且不太可能随时间改变（稳定），以及（b）存在于孩子自身（内在），随时间稳定且难以治疗。尽管如此，家长也认为睡眠问题的治疗很重要。82%接受调查的家长报告称已为孩子的睡眠障碍寻求了某种帮助，平均每位家长尝试了六种不同的治疗策略，最常见的是医学方法（如褪黑素）。家长的治疗选择与研究支持的策略之间的一致性较差，但对治疗效果的信念与治疗的使用频率密切相关。这些发现对ASD儿童睡眠问题治疗中的家长教育和临床实践具有重要意义。
