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. 2019 Aug;49(8):3387-3400.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-019-04049-2.

A Systematic Review of What Barriers and Facilitators Prevent and Enable Physical Healthcare Services Access for Autistic Adults

David Mason  1 , Barry Ingham  2   3 , Anna Urbanowicz  4 , Cos Michael  5 , Heather Birtles  6 , Marc Woodbury-Smith  2   3 , Toni Brown  3 , Ian James  7 , Clare Scarlett  8 , Christina Nicolaidis  9 , Jeremy R Parr  2   3
Affiliations

A Systematic Review of What Barriers and Facilitators Prevent and Enable Physical Healthcare Services Access for Autistic Adults

David Mason et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Autistic people are more likely to: be diagnosed with a range of physical health conditions (i.e. cardio-vascular disease); experience premature mortality (for most disease categories); and experience barriers to effectively accessing healthcare. This systematic review sought to identify studies that report on barriers and facilitators to physical healthcare access for autistic people. A total of 3111 records were screened and six studies were included: two quantitative, two qualitative, and two mixed-methodology studies. Patient-provider communication, sensory sensitivities, and executive functioning/planning issues emerged as important barriers to healthcare. Recommendations for clinicians and those planning services are discussed.

Keywords: Adult; Autism; Barriers; Healthcare access; Physical health; Sensory sensitivities.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA diagram showing the process used to identify studies, study search and selection
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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