Tawankanjanachot Nadlada, Melville Craig, Truesdale Maria, Kidd Lisa
School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 9LL, UK.
Ramathibodi School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
BMC Nurs. 2024 Nov 14;23(1):830. doi: 10.1186/s12912-024-02492-w.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a negative impact on the health and mental health of adolescents and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their caregivers, have been disproportionally affected. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on Thai caregivers and adolescents with ASD.
This study used an online survey with closed and free text questions to investigate how the pandemic had impacted on social skills development and psychological variables, and perceived needs for support. The survey link was shared to parents via the Yuwaprasart Withayopathum Child and Adolescent Hospital and the social media platforms of known ASD stakeholder networks in Thailand. Binary logistic regression was used to investigate the relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, service use, and social skills problems experienced by adolescents during the pandemic. Content analysis was applied to analyse free-text data.
A total of 376 caregivers of adolescents with ASD aged 10-19 years completed the survey, of which 364 were included in the analysis. In total, 38.7% of caregivers reported that during the pandemic the social skills of their adolescent family member had worsened. Most families reported that they were able to continue to access support from healthcare and educational services, albeit in different ways than pre-pandemic, during the acute stages of the pandemic which benefited the maintenance of ASD symptoms and social skills. Factors identified as reducing the odds of a worsening in social skills during the pandemic included; regular access to treatment for adolescents (odds ratio [OR] = 0.55, confidence interval 95% (CI) 0.32-0.98, p = 0.044), caregivers feeling that they had sufficient support from hospitals (OR = 0.46, 95% CI 0.26-0.81, p = 0.007) and older age of adolescents (OR = 0.53, CI 0.29-0.99, p = 0.047). The qualitative free text comments showed that the caregivers felt that greater information on managing adolescent behaviours, opportunities for adolescents to practice social skills, and the provision of greater emotional support and material assistance from healthcare professionals during the pandemic would have helped them to care for the adolescents with ASD.
Regular access to services, support from hospitals during the pandemic and older age in adolescence may have helped prevent the worsening of the social skills problems of adolescents with ASD.
冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行对青少年以及患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的青少年及其照顾者的健康和心理健康产生了负面影响，他们受到的影响尤为严重。本研究的目的是调查COVID-19对泰国照顾者和患有ASD的青少年的影响。
本研究采用了一项包含封闭式和自由文本问题的在线调查，以调查大流行如何影响社交技能发展、心理变量以及感知到的支持需求。调查链接通过育哇帕拉斯乍医院儿童与青少年医院以及泰国已知的ASD利益相关者网络的社交媒体平台分享给家长。二元逻辑回归用于调查社会人口学特征、服务使用情况与青少年在大流行期间经历的社交技能问题之间的关系。内容分析用于分析自由文本数据。
共有376名10至19岁患有ASD的青少年的照顾者完成了调查，其中364名被纳入分析。总体而言，38.7%的照顾者报告称，在大流行期间，他们青少年家庭成员的社交技能有所恶化。大多数家庭报告称，在大流行的急性期，他们能够继续获得医疗保健和教育服务的支持，尽管方式与大流行前不同，这有利于维持ASD症状和社交技能。被确定为降低大流行期间社交技能恶化几率的因素包括：青少年定期接受治疗（优势比[OR]=0.55，95%置信区间[CI]0.32 - 0.98，p = 0.044）、照顾者感觉从医院获得了足够的支持（OR = 0.46，95% CI 0.26 - 0.81，p = 0.007）以及青少年年龄较大（OR = 0.53，CI 0.29 - 0.99，p = 0.047）。定性自由文本评论表明，照顾者认为在大流行期间，获得更多关于管理青少年行为的信息、青少年练习社交技能的机会以及医疗保健专业人员提供更多情感支持和物质援助，会有助于他们照顾患有ASD的青少年。
定期获得服务、在大流行期间获得医院支持以及青少年年龄较大，可能有助于防止患有ASD的青少年社交技能问题恶化。
