Parent mediated intervention programmes for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders in South Asia: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective Parent-mediated programmes have been found to be cost effective for addressing the needs of the children and adolescents with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) in high-income countries. We explored the impact of parent-mediated intervention programmes in South Asia, where the burden of NDD is high. Methods A systematic review was conducted using the following databases; PUBMED, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Google Scholar and Web of Science. Predefined MeSH terms were used, and articles were included if published prior to January 2020. Two independent researchers screened the articles and reviewed data. Outcomes measures The review included studies that targeted children and adolescents between 1 and 18 years of age diagnosed with any of four specific NDDs that are commonly reported in South Asia; Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Intellectual Disability (ID), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Cerebral Palsy (CP). Studies that reported on parent or child outcomes, parent-child interaction, parent knowledge of NDDs, or child activities of daily living were included for full text review. Results A total of 1585 research articles were retrieved and 23 studies met inclusion criteria, including 9 Randomized Controlled Trials and 14 pre-post intervention studies. Of these, seventeen studies reported effectiveness, and six studies reported feasibility and acceptability of the parent-mediated interventions. Three studies demonstrated improved parent-child interaction, three studies demonstrated improved child communication initiations, five studies reported improved social and communication skills in children, four studies demonstrated improved parental knowledge about how to teach their children, and four studies reported improved motor and cognitive skills, social skills, language development, learning ability, or academic performance in children. Conclusion This systematic review of 23 studies demonstrated improvements in parent and child skills following parent-mediated intervention in South Asia. Additional evaluations of locally customized parent-mediated programmes are needed to support development of feasible interventions for South Asian countries.

Effectiveness of Online-Delivered Project ImPACT for Children With ASD and Their Parents: A Pilot Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Best practice recommends at least 25 h per week of comprehensive interventions for children with ASD ( 6 ), but many families fail to meet this standard due to the shortage of quality services and well-trained professionals ( 7 , 8 ) in China, especially some rural region. Parent-mediated intervention (PMI) is a cost-effective model to fill the existing gap.…”

Effectiveness of interventions for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder in high-income vs. lower middle-income countries: An overview of systematic reviews and research papers from LMIC

“…In the individual reviews only very few studies came from LMIC (0–4). This was true even for the three reviews that focused on research from LMIC ( 67 , 97 , 119 ). Many of the cited studies in these reviews did not investigate the ASD-related outcomes for children or adolescents.…”

“…Regarding LMIC, four recent reviews looked into parent-mediated interventions for children with ASD ( 84 , 97 , 101 , 119 ). However, most of the cited studies did not investigate the outcomes for children but looked into outcomes for parents (e.g., gain in knowledge, perceived helpfulness of intervention).…”

“…In LMIC, however, the evidence is still insufficient to judged parent-mediated interventions as evidence-based. Two reviews from India and one review from Bangladesh judged parent-mediated interventions as effective ( 67 , 97 , 119 ). It is important to note, however, that in the review by Dababnah et al ( 67 ) the total number of studies with respect to ASD was low.…”

An mCARE study on patterns of risk and resilience for children with ASD in Bangladesh

“…Though several works 45 , 46 in this relevant area to determine the mental health of the children with ASD in Bangladesh, in this study, we specifically identify the behavioral changes of the children with ASD in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Compared to other studies, in this work, we have deployed our developed mCARE: APP and mCARE: SMS tools among our cohort.…”