Transtorno do Espectro Autista infantil e os desafios familiares: revisão integrativa de literatura

Abstract

Childhood autism involves significant changes in the areas of socialization, cognition and communication, with conditions that are often persistent and severe. These have great individual variation and very often require intense care from parents or family members, long and permanent periods of full-time dedication. The study aimed to investigate in the literature the described challenges involving the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and its impacts on family relationships. This is an integrative literature review that used the SCIELO and LILACS databases for data collection. Through the Health Sciences Descriptors, the terms “Autism Spectrum Disorder”, “Diagnosis” and “Family Relations'' were used for the search, with the first term being crossed with the others. The inclusion criteria were full-text articles , published in Portuguese, English and Spanish, in the last seven years (2015 to 2021). The first search registered a finding of 115 articles in the LILACS database and 22 articles in the SCIELO database. After applying the inclusion criteria and exclusion, a total of 5 articles was reached. Data analysis indicated that the diagnosis can significantly affect the behavior of the family and their relationships in coping with the difficulties of dealing with the symptoms. The improvement of the social support and care network with diagnosed children and their families can reduce everyday family difficulties.