RAPID REVIEW

 

Occupational therapy interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders - a Rapid Review

 

 

Janke van der Walt^I; Madri Engelbrecht^II; Hester van Biljon^III; Shaheed M. Soeker^IV

^IDivision of Occupational Therapy, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5012-0121
^IICentre for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, Department of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4606-7572
^IIIWork-Link Vocational Rehabilitation Practice, Johannesburg, South Africa. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4433-6457
^IVDepartment of Occupational Therapy, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5382-1855

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: This rapid review aimed to synthesise evidence for occupational therapy intervention in the management of autism spectrum disorders. The review forms part of a series of rapid reviews commissioned by the Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa to help inform decision making as South Africa prepares for a new health system.
METHOD: Level I and II research studies published from 2017 - 2022 were considered for inclusion. Electronic database searches were conducted on the Cochrane database. The identified records were screened in Rayyan according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quality assessment of the selected articles was done with the CASP appraisal tool. Data were extracted to a custom Microsoft Excel® worksheet and analysed quantitatively by percentage/frequency and qualitatively by thematic analysis of statements.
RESULTS: Thirty-eight records were selected. These included 30 systematic reviews and eight randomised controlled trials. Twelve intervention domains across four age groups were identified with sensory integration and social skills interventions most frequently examined. Interventions were delivered across various venues, including mediation and technology (e.g., telehealth interventions). A number of different outcome measures were used.
CONCLUSION: There is evidence to support the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions for autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan for twelve different domains.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:
• Occupational Therapists are involved in the provision of therapy intervention across all age groups for people with ASD.
• Intervention can successfully take place in a clinic setting, but also at home or through means of technology.
• There is growing evidence for sensory integration therapy or techniques when considering functional outcomes when treating people with ASD.
• There is a lack of Level I and II research in the form of randomised control trials and systematic reviews regarding ASD intervention in sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: Autism, intervention, occupational therapy, rapid review, policy support

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INTRODUCTION

This rapid review was performed as part of a series of reviews by an appointed task team, initiated by the Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa (OTASA). The aim of the rapid review project is to provide evidence for the role of occupational therapy intervention for specific conditions in preparation of moving towards a National Health Insurance (NHI) system in South Africa¹. This review was guided by the autism standard operating protocol for occupational therapy as compiled by the OTASA standard protocol group².

The focus of this review is on autism spectrum disorders. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurological disorder, characterised by impairments of reciprocal social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as preference for repetitive stereotyped activities, behaviours and interests. To diagnose ASD, symptoms must be present before the age of three years, but last throughout the lifespan. Autism spectrum disorder is described as level 1, 2 or 3 by severity of social communication impairments and repetitive restrictive patterns of behaviour and the level of severity depends on the level of support required^3,4.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports a global prevalence of autism at 1%⁵, while systematic reviews of global prevalence figures reflect a prevalence of between 0.6%⁶ and 0.65 %⁷. An updated systematic review⁸ indicates an increased global prevalence of 0.03% from 2012 onwards, possibly due to increased awareness about the condition and earlier identification. Systematic and scoping reviews found no records of prevalence studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa^9,10. Considering the absence of prevalence data in South Africa, Pillay et al. performed a search of all the children with a primary or secondary diagnosis of ASD in schools in the Western Cape of South Africa, resulting in a broad rate of 0.08%¹¹. The lack of more extensive and comprehensive data complicates service delivery and intervention for ASD in South Africa¹⁰.

Occupational therapists enable individuals and communities to participate in daily life activities through engagement in occupations relevant to them, or by modifying the occupation or environment¹². De Schipper et al., in their systematic review of the literature, identified numerous categories on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (youth version) core sets for ASD when considering ability and disability in ASD¹³, affirming the importance of occupational therapists within a larger intervention team¹⁴. The need for occupational therapy services for adults with ASD are less frequently reported on, although services include involvement in the areas of sensory integration¹⁵, vocational rehabilitation services¹⁶, driving training¹⁷ and social skills¹⁸.

This study examines global evidence-based occupational therapy intervention for ASD across the lifespan to inform policy makers as we move towards a new NHI system in South Africa. Rapid reviews are used to inform health decision makers both timeously and cost effectively, while still maintaining methodological rigor^19,20. Rapid reviews proved very valuable during the Covid-19 pandemic to inform the government, clinicians and patients about strategic evidence to make crucial decisions. These reviews take an average of five to twelve weeks to complete, however during an emergency, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the timeframe was much shorter i.e. seven to ten days to complete a review^19,20.

 

METHODOLOGY

Scope and question

The OTASA rapid review task team consisted of four occupational therapists with clinical and academic experience in the various fields of practice. The first author was the principal researcher for this review and was assisted by theother authors during all phases of the review. The review

was steered by the methods guide for rapid reviews for Covid-19 medicine reviews¹⁹, and a practical guide to rapid reviews by the World Health Organization²⁰. The research question investigated was: What ASD-related evidence exists for occupational therapy intervention across the human lifespan? The research population was defined as any person with ASD across the lifespan. "Intervention" included any form of treatment that involves occupational therapists as intervention/programme developers, organisers, researchers or facilitators. Assessment methods were not included in this review.

Study designs

Only level I and II studies* were considered for the review and included systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials. Qualitative designs and other reviews such as scoping or literature reviews were excluded.

Search approach

Searches were conducted online through use of the library at Stellenbosch University. Cochrane library and Medline were used as search engines; however, the Medline search was aborted due to no new records found when compared to the Cochrane search. The search string used was: "Autism OR Autism Spectrum Disorder OR ASD AND Occupational Therapy OR occupational therapist" Inclusion criteria were: level I or II studies*, peer-reviewed publications, published between January 2017 and December 2023, available in English and full text available. Conference proceedings, reports, theses, etc., were not included.

References were saved online in Mendeley²¹, an online personalised reference database and referencing tool. All references were transferred to the webtool Rayyan.ai to assist with the screening process²².

Study selection

Two researchers firstly screened the records on Rayyan.ai by title and abstract, while a third researcher resolved any conflicts. The selected records underwent full text screening by the primary investigator, while a second researcher screened 20% of the full text articles. A third reviewer resolved any uncertainties.

Data extraction

A custom Microsoft Excel^® worksheet was designed to extract data under the following headings: author; study title; study design; population (gender, age, geographical location, setting); intervention method; comparisons; outcomes. The headings "comments" and "statements" were added to allow for any important information to be recorded which was not covered under the previous headings.

Appraisal of study quality

The quality of studies was appraised using the Critical Appraisals Skills Program (CASP) Randomised Controlled Trial Standard Checklist, or CASP checklist for systematic reviews Points for each question were awarded to obtain an informal score per record as follow: Yes = 1; Not clear = 0.5 and No = 0.

Evidence analysis

Data were analysed by percentage and frequency predominantly for quantitative reporting. Additional information recorded under the statements/comments sections were grouped together through thematic analysis. Statements were filtered by method of deduction and only statements that were not already represented quantitatively were selected for reporting.

 

RESULTS

Search results

From the Cochrane search, 2348 records were identified. After 43 duplicates were removed through the Rayyan.ai screening tool, 2305 records were screened by title and abstract. The first screening eliminated 2050 records, while the full text version of eight records could not be accessed. This resulted in full text screening of 250 records. At this stage, the research team agreed to only include records identified from 2017 -2022, rather than for ten years due to sufficient records identified in this timespan. Records from the previous five years were found to be well-represented in the systematic reviews from 2017 - 2023. The PRISMA diagram²⁴ (Figure 1, below) illustrates the screening and selection process.

 

Figure 1 - Click to enlarge

 

Study design and quality

The included records comprised thirty systematic reviews and eight RCTs. A full description of studies can be seen in Table I (below). All included studies were of acceptable quality with scores of above 7/10 for systematic reviews and above 8/11 for RCTs on the CASP. Systematic reviews reported studies over the timespan of 1967 to 2021.

 

Table I - Click to enlarge

 

Study locations were not reported for all studies. Among those reported, most studies were conducted in the United States of America (n = 6), Northern Europe (n = 5), Australia (n = 5) and Asia (Japan, China, Taiwan) (n = 4). Studies were also reported in Canada (n = 2), Brazil (n=1), New-Zealand (n = 1) and Egypt (n = 1).

Population

Studies included in this review either focused on occupational therapy interventions for people with ASD and/or caregivers and/or employers of people with ASD. Ultimately, the aim of the occupational therapy interventions was always to improve the quality of life of the person with ASD. Ages were covered at a range from birth to late adulthood. Guided by the OTASA standards of practice for ASD document² studies were divided into age group categories of: early years (0- 3 years) (n = 19); childhood (3 - 12 years) (n = 29); adolescents (15- 22 years) (n = 25) and adulthood (23 years and up) (n = 10).

Interventions

Twelve different domains of occupational therapy intervention were identified across all included studies. The sensory domain included any form of intervention aimed at sensory integration, modulation or stimulation, including Ayers sensory integration®, and was most frequently reported on (n = 12) together with the social skills domain (n = 12) which included specialised programs such as KONTAKT®2⁶ and PEERS®⁵⁸. Further domains included behavioural (n = 9); educational (n = 9); mediated (n = 9); cognitive (n = 8); play/ leisure (n = 8); activities of daily living (n = 7); technology (n = 4); motor skills (n = 3), sleep (n = 2) and work (n = 2) domains.

When considering age groups by domains (Table II, adjacent), studies examining the work domain only covered the adolescent to adult age range, while motor skills were covered up to the adolescent age range. The play/leisure domain mostly refers to the occupation of play among the early years, child and adolescent age group (n = 7), with only one study that included adult leisure. All other domains were studied over all age groups.

 

 

Intervention venue

The studies that reported venues included clinic or therapy environments, community centres, schools, tertiary institutions, places of work and home environments as study/ intervention venues.

Outcome measures

A vast number of different and diverse outcome measures were reported in systematic reviews and RCT's. These included standardised assessments, questionnaires, checklists, surveys and rating scales. The specific outcome measures used for RCT's are reported in Table I (page 77).

Thematic analysis

Common themes were identified through thematic analysis and can be summarised as follows:

Studies reported on many specialised programs and techniques for ASD involving occupational therapists, for which supplementary specialised training is required^{26,27,30,31,33,43,53,55,58,60}.

However, a combination of approaches and techniques are often necessary to reach desired outcomes^41,42,50, andinterventions involving technology, such as robots and telehealth, require multidisciplinary involvement^27,59. Caregiver/parent mediated intervention hold many benefits for individuals with ASD, the caregivers and cost-effective service delivery and evidence suggest that gains can occur within a relatively short time span, however more research is needed in this regard^{28,36,46,47,49,50}. There is a lack of research on specific academic support for students with ASD²⁹. In general, more high-quality trials with participation-focused outcome measures are needed to support clinicians involved in the management of ASD ³². Studies yielded many and diverse outcome measures and approaches, which complicates evidence comparison^38,39,59.

 

DISCUSSION

Research considering occupational therapy interventions for ASD is well-represented in the literature over the time period 2017 - 2022 as covered in this rapid review, including 30 systematic reviews. Good quality RCT's are less frequently represented, as also found in other systematic reviews^31,32. Records included in this review are predominantly from high-income countries, with no records from low-income countries and limited records from upper-middle-income countries⁶¹ i.e., China^46,60 and Brazil⁵⁹. South Africa is classified as an upper-middle-income country and can thus most closely associate with these studies, however, no studies from South Africa or sub-Saharan Africa matched the criteria for this review.

Although records include interventions across the lifespan, occupational therapy intervention is most frequently described for children (3 - 12 years), followed by early years (0 - 3 years) and adolescents (13 - 22 years), and much less frequent for adults over 23 years of age. Novak et listed 39 different effective interventions for children with a range of disabilities in their systematic review, concluding that parents have many choices when considering therapy intervention. While early intervention for ASD is essential, in their systematic review, Lorenc et al¹⁸ reiterates the importance of more evidence-based research for interventions for adults with ASD, and specifically for adults without intellectual disabilities. Services are usually focussed on mental health, which can only be accessed if a problem develops, rather than having access to preventative services. Furthermore, studies focus on younger adults (below 40 years of age)¹⁸. Considering that ASD is a life-long condition, the focus on the provision of occupational therapy intervention for middle, adult and older adult age groups is an area that needs attention by researchers.

When considering ages by intervention, it makes sense that researchers give more consideration to sensory integration^{30,43,-51-53,55} and parent mediated intervention^{28,33,36,46,47,49} in the younger years, while social skill interventions are mainly considered in the childhood and adolescent years^{26,46,54,58,60}. interventions related to work and driving are only considered in late-adolescent years and adult years^16,18. Nevertheless, twelve different intervention domains for ASD with occupational therapy involvement were identified in this review across the lifespan, which coincides with the large range of functional impairments that could occur with ASD¹³.

In a systematic review of 406 clinical trials, Provenzani et al⁶³ identifies the vast number of outcome measures used within ASD research as a barrier when comparing studies⁶³. This was reflected in the current review, however, with twelve different domains of intervention, a variety of outcome measures is to be expected. The authors recommend greater consensus regarding outcome measures in ASD research, this could be considered across the individual domains and age groups identified.

Access to occupational therapy interventions is described across a range of locations, indicating an openness to accessible intervention. A systematic review investigating non-specialist options for intervention found promising evidence for a task-shifting approach⁴⁹ where non-specialists are trained by specialists to deliver therapy interventions or programmes⁶⁴. Task-shifting has proved to be a valuable, yet developing methods of practice to use in sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade65 and further research in this area, in support of ASD interventions are indicated. Mediated interventions, often co-occurring with the use of technology, brings intervention within homes and schools and involve families and/or teachers³⁶. Specialised programs are often used and require post qualification training e.g., Kontakt^®26 or PEERS^®48,58, for social skills; DIR®/floortime³¹ and Ayers sensory integration^®55.

Limitations

Only level I and II studies were included in this review, so limiting the inclusion of lower quality studies specific to sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa that may reveal area-specific interventions for ASD.

There is an overlap in academic and clinical practitioner input with regards to therapy intervention for ASD. Therapists and researchers are often not defined by role in research papers. This complicated the accuracy of the screening process and records might have been missed.

Ethics

Only articles from peer-reviewed journals were considered for the review and the quality and bias of selected records were tested using the CASP rating tool. Ethical clearance was not required as the study did not require primary data collection.

 

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Evidence from around the globe suggests that occupational therapy plays an integral part in the management of ASD across at least 12 domains and across all ages. ASD intervention is a specialised area for which post qualification training is required when considering specific programmes and techniques; however, promising evidence also exists for mediation, use of technology and task-sharing approaches which makes intervention more accessible to all.

There is a gap in and need for ASD research within South Africa to establish reliable data and to determine current intervention processes, including occupational therapy involvement in South Africa. Global evidence for occupational therapy interventions should be considered with caution against the unique challenges South Africa faces with regards to diversities, socio-economics, rurality, co-morbidities and the current and proposed health systems.

Author contributions

All four authors (Janke van der Walt, Madri Engelbrecht, Hester van Biljon and Shaheed M. Soeker contributed substantially to the design of the study and the screening process. Janke van der Walt analysed and interpreted the data with the support of the other authors as critical reviewers. Janke van der Walt wrote the article which was revised by the other three authors. All authors agreed on the final content as presented.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

 

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Correspondence:
Janke van der Walt
Email: Jankevdw@sun.ac.za

Submitted: 26 August 2023
Reviewed:6 February 2024
Revised: 13 February 2024
Accepted: 14 February 2024

 

 

Data availability: Upon reasonable request, from corresponding author
Editor: Blanche Pretorius: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3543-0743
Funding: The Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa (OTASA) requested the authors to do this rapid review and they were remunerated by the association.
* Level I studies include RCTs and systematic reviews of RCTs with or without meta-analysis. Level II include systematic reviews of a combination of RCT's and quasi-experimental studies with or without meta-analysis.