Healthcare access problems for children with autism spectrum disorder

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a universal public health concern with a long-term neurodevelopment disorder that is recognized as disturbance in thecontext of social communication and interaction, and the fluency of restricted and repetitious patterns of behavior, interests or functions. As a result, children with ASD andtheir providers are facing considerable barriers to accessing vital services in comparision with the general population. The mean goal of this article is explaining healthcare access problems for Iranian children with autism spectrum disorder. Methods: This essay was a systematic review of English articles published in pubmed, google scholar and Nature since ۲۰۱۵. Being up to date, matching with keywords and accessing the full text were incoming metrics. Results: The most important problems can be classified in three categories. First, access to services problems like getting referrals and finding caregivers with proper training, trouble in using services, loss of source of care, insufficient insurance coverage and social secondary health coverage, geographic obstacles and financial burdens and also limited access to education for community-based services and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) specific interventions. Second, Deficiencies in quality of care that includes loss of care coordination, no routine screening, diagnostic and psychoeducational practices and absence of share decision making. Third, family induced problems that are high costs of medicating, lack of formal and informal supports, employment problems and time-related burden, being in poor health families and also having older children can be associated with lower access problems. Conclusion: Making some Programs for children in general (e.g. global screening for autism) and improve level of knowledge about ASD diagnosis and interventions for families and the caregivers via courses or social network is suggested to solve healthcare access problems. We also should train our professionals to diagnose autism ased on the standard protocols and tests .Additionally, practices and rules to address the insufficiency of services for children with ASD are urgently needed.

کلیدواژه ها:

Healthcare Access Problems ، Children ، Autism Spectrum Disorder.