School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA.
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA.
J Integr Neurosci. 2023 Mar 23;22(2):51. doi: 10.31083/j.jin2202051.
Over the last decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on a global scale, impacting all racial and cultural groups. This increase in the diagnostic rate has prompted investigation into a myriad of factors that may serve as early signs of ASD. One of these factors includes the biomechanics of gait, or the manner of walking. Although ASD is a spectrum, many autistic children experience differences in gross motor function, including gait. It has been documented that gait is also impacted by racial and cultural background. Given that ASD is equally prevalent across all cultural backgrounds, it is urgent that studies assessing gait in autistic children consider the impact of cultural factors on children's development of gait. The purpose of the present scoping review was to assess whether recent empirical research studies focusing on gait in autistic children have taken culture into account.
To do so, we conducted a scoping review following PRISMA guidelines using a keyword searching with the terms , OR , OR , OR , AND OR in the following databases: CINAHL, ERIC (EBSCO), Medline, ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source, PsychInfo, PubMed, and Scopus. Articles were considered for review if they met all six of the following inclusionary criteria: (1) included participants with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), (2) directly measured gait or walking, (3) the article was a primary study, (4) the article was written in English, (5) participants included children up to age 18, and (6) the article was published between 2014 and 2022.
A total of 43 articles met eligibility criteria but none of the articles took culture into account in the data analysis process.
There is an urgent need for neuroscience research to consider cultural factors when assessing gait characteristics of autistic children. This would allow for more culturally responsive and equitable assessment and intervention planning for all autistic children.
在过去的十年中，在全球范围内被诊断出患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童数量稳步增加，影响到所有种族和文化群体。这种诊断率的增加促使人们调查了许多可能成为 ASD 早期迹象的因素。其中一个因素包括步态的生物力学，或行走方式。尽管 ASD 是一个谱系，但许多自闭症儿童的粗大运动功能（包括步态）存在差异。有记录表明，步态也受到种族和文化背景的影响。鉴于 ASD 在所有文化背景中同样普遍，因此评估自闭症儿童步态的研究迫切需要考虑文化因素对儿童步态发展的影响。本研究的目的是评估关注自闭症儿童步态的最近实证研究是否考虑了文化因素。
为此，我们按照 PRISMA 指南进行了范围综述，使用关键字搜索，在以下数据库中使用术语 、 或 、 或 、 或 、 或 进行搜索：CINAHL、ERIC（EBSCO）、Medline、ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source、PsychInfo、PubMed 和 Scopus。如果文章符合以下六个纳入标准，则将其视为符合审查条件：（1）纳入自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）诊断的参与者；（2）直接测量步态或行走；（3）文章为原始研究；（4）文章为英文；（5）参与者包括 18 岁以下的儿童；（6）文章发表于 2014 年至 2022 年之间。
共有 43 篇文章符合资格标准，但没有一篇文章在数据分析过程中考虑了文化因素。
神经科学研究在评估自闭症儿童的步态特征时需要考虑文化因素，这将有助于为所有自闭症儿童提供更具文化响应性和公平性的评估和干预计划。
