57 The family experience of the Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnostic conference: A qualitative meta-synthesis

摘要

The Canadian prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one in 66 children affecting many families nationwide. Increasingly, clinicians are tasked with discussing new ASD diagnoses with families; however, many physicians are not comfortable with the conversation, despite self-reported familiarity with ASD. Concurrently, research indicates that families are often dissatisfied with their diagnostic journey, including the diagnostic conversation, which has been described as “profound to almost all parents” (Abbott et al., 2012). Given the importance of this moment, we applied a qualitative meta-synthesis design to gain a deeper understanding of the family experience. Meta-synthesis is an emerging field in health sciences, wherein a systematic search strategy is coupled with qualitative analysis. It is valuable for evidence-driven practices and policies as large volumes of qualitative literature are synthesized into actionable concepts.