| Abstract [eng] |
Background: According to 2023 World Health Organization data, about 1 of 100 children in the world has autism spectrum disorders. From 2016 to 2021 in Lithuania the number of persons from 0 to17 years old with registered autism per 100,000 children increased from 105,6 to 238,9. Studies show that occupational therapy has a positive effect on children with autism spectrum disorders self-care and social skills. In the last years, more and more scientists in their studies analyze the effect of different occupational therapy methods on children with ASD. In order to better and effectively help children with ASD and their families, it is necessary to find out which occupational therapy measures are best to apply on children with autism spectrum disorders, and what their effectiveness depends on. The aim of research work: To investigate the effects of different occupational therapy interventions on the self-care and social skills of children with autism spectrum disorders. Tasks of work: 1. To analyze which occupational therapy interventions have an effect on the self-care skills of children with autism spectrum disorders 2. To analyze which occupational therapy interventions have an effect on the social skills of children with autism spectrum disorders 3. To compare the effects of different occupational therapy interventions on children with autism spectrum disorders and to find out which of them are the most effective to improve these children's self-care and social skills. Materials and methods: The systematic review was conducted by using Web Of Science" and "PubMed" databases. The search was conducted based on the PICO method, and the selection was based on the requirements of the PRISMA (preferred reporting item for systematic review and meta-analyses) systematic review model. Studies, which publication date were between 2014 and 2024 (until 10 years old) were searched. The results of the applied intervention were assessed according to significance - α = 0.05 and the effect size - Cohen d coefficient. The RoB-2 instrument was used to determine the quality of articles. Results: 13 articles were included in this systematic review. 12 of these were randomized controlled trials and in one trial allocation to groups was performed by the parents of the participants. After analyzing the selected publications, the interventions were divided into three groups: group therapy, sensory integration therapy, individual therapy. A statistically significant difference (p<0,05) in results between EG and KG self-care skills at the final evaluation was found for 3 of 4 SIT interventions, 3 of 4 GT interventions, and only 1 of 5 IT used by occupational therapist. All SIT and IT interventions, analyzed in the work, statistically significantly improved the social skills of children with ASD, and the authors of only one publication analyzing GT obtained a statistically insignificant difference between their EG and KG. The greatest effect on the self-care skills of children with ASD was the TEACCH structured activity method adapted by GT (d=1.445), and on social skills - SIT according to the Ayres principles (d=1.297) and the intervention used by IT "TEACCH" (d=1.064). Conclusions: The intervention used by occupational therapists, which has the greatest impact on children with ASD self-care skills is "TEACCH" method. In the area of social skills, the greatest positive change of children with ASD was observed by parents after SIT, which was based on the principles of sensory integration described by Ayres, and by specialists - after Self-Regulation Learning (SRL) intervention. |
