Participation of Children With Autism During COVID-19: The Role of Maternal Participation.
Ziru Wang, Anat Golos, Jonathan A Weiss and 1 others
PMID 37089012WHAT IT FOUND
During COVID-19, school-aged children with autism participated more at home than in the community, and mothers wanted change in 71% of activities.
Mothers' own health-promoting activities were linked to greater child involvement at home, not community.
Key findings
01Children participated more frequently and were more involved at home than in the community, and mothers wanted to see change in 71% of activities.
02At home, mother's participation frequency was positively associated with child participation frequency and involvement. It added 5.4% and 10.4% of unique variance after other factors were considered; in the community, it was not significantly associated with any outcome.
03In the community, higher family income was associated with less frequent participation and greater involvement, accounting for 41.4% and 8.7% of variance.
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 mothers and children at one time, so it cannot show that mother's participation caused child participation. It did not account for changing pandemic rules by district, and most surveys were completed in winter. All information came from mothers; fathers and other caregivers were not included. Autism diagnosis was parent-reported, and autism severity was not measured. Children with cerebral palsy or Down syndrome were excluded, so results may not apply to children with those additional diagnoses. The sample was mainly Canadian and U.S., and post hoc country differences suggest pandemic policies may have affected participation patterns.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing a mother's health-promoting activities will improve her child's participation. The study found associations at home only, did not test an intervention, and found no association with community participation outcomes.