Leisure time and family functioning in families living with autism spectrum disorder.
Katherine M Walton
PMID 30466294WHAT IT FOUND
Families with a child with autism spent similar leisure time as comparison families, but reported lower leisure satisfaction and poorer family functioning.
They also showed a trend toward lower satisfaction with family life. These are associations, not proof that changing leisure improves outcomes.
Key findings
01After adjusting for child age, family income, and parent education, the groups did not differ in reported core, balance, or total family leisure involvement.
02Caregivers of children with ASD reported lower satisfaction with leisure and poorer family functioning than caregivers of typically developing children.
03Leisure satisfaction was linked to family communication and family cohesion, but the indirect effects of leisure hours were too small to be clinically meaningful.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study measured associations at one time point from one caregiver, so it cannot show that changing leisure improves family functioning. Autism status was based on a screening questionnaire and parent report, not an independent diagnostic verification. The sample was relatively small and homogeneous, and the ASD and comparison groups differed in child age, parent education, and family income, even though analyses adjusted for these factors. Several differences, including family communication and satisfaction with family life, did not meet the corrected significance threshold. The mediation effects from leisure hours were very small, and the paper states they are likely not clinically meaningful.
Declared interests
No author conflict declaration is included in the supplied text. The article is tagged as supported by NIH extramural research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that adding more family leisure hours will improve outcomes. The groups did not differ in leisure time, and the mediation effects of leisure hours were too small to be clinically meaningful. The study is correlational, so it cannot show that changing leisure causes change.