Risk and protective factors of quality of life for children with autism spectrum disorder and their families during the COVID-19 lockdown. An Italian study.
Maria Grazia Logrieco, Laura Casula, Giuseppe Niccolò Ciuffreda and 7 others
PMID 34826776WHAT IT FOUND
Children with ASD who played at a table with parents or did physical activity had better quality of life.
Worsening overall autism symptoms lowered quality of life for both children and parents. Telehealth showed a non-significant trend toward protecting children's quality of life.
Key findings
01Time spent playing at a table with parents and doing physical activity were significant positive predictors of children's quality of life.
02Worsening of overall autism symptoms during lockdown was a significant negative predictor of quality of life for both children and parents.
03Telehealth intervention was not a significant predictor of children's quality of life, though the authors noted a positive trend.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relied entirely on parent proxy reports for both child and parent outcomes, which may introduce bias. The sample size varied across analyses (243 recruited, but only 194 provided data for both child and parent QoL measures). The cross-sectional survey design captures associations during a specific period but cannot prove that the interventions or activities caused the changes in QoL. The study was conducted at the end of the first lockdown, relying on parents' retrospective recall of the previous month.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that telehealth interventions significantly improved children's quality of life based on this study. The statistical analysis showed a positive trend but did not reach significance (p = .080), meaning the evidence for telehealth's benefit on QoL in this sample was inconclusive.