Assistance to families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Perceptions of the multiprofessional team.
Tassia de Arruda Bonfim, Bianca Cristina Ciccone Giacon-Arruda, Sueli Aparecida Frari Galera and 3 others
PMID 36888790WHAT IT FOUND
Multiprofessional teams caring for families of children with autism reported focusing on the child’s acute needs and behaviors, often leaving families feeling unheard.
Nurses were seen as the primary link between team members, yet staff shortages and lack of clear protocols fragmented care and hindered family support.
Key findings
01Care practices across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels centered on the child’s specific demands and behaviors, rather than treating the family as a unit of care.
02Work overload, insufficient staffing, and poor articulation between health services were identified as major barriers to providing consistent family support.
03In the hospital setting, nursing teams were perceived as the essential link connecting all other professional team members despite their own high workload.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only one team from each care level in a single city, limiting the generalizability of the findings. Data were collected in 2019, and health service structures or policies may have changed since then. The study captured only the professionals' perceptions and did not include the families' own voices to validate these observations.
Declared interests
The study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), a Brazilian public agency. No commercial conflicts of interest were reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the finding that nurses are the 'link' in the team as evidence that nursing interventions alone improve family outcomes. The study reports perceptions of workload and structural barriers, not the efficacy of any specific care model.