ArticleAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2021
The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of caregivers of autistic children and youth: A scoping review.
Article in Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19 Pandemic Period in the European Population: An Institutional Challenge.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Clinical and cost-effectiveness of an adapted intervention for preschoolers with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities displaying behaviours that challenge: the EPICC-ID RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2024Trial
- Improving parents' ability to advocate for services for youth with autism: A randomized clinical trial.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2023Trial
- How Do Social Support and Resilience Interact in Parents of Children with ASD? A Cross-Lagged Mediation and Moderation Analysis from the COR Perspective.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- The Impact of Art-Based Interventions on Emotional Regulation in Chinese Children with Autism: A Drawing Therapy Approach.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Parents' experiences in accessing services for their autistic children in the United Kingdom: A meta-synthesis.The British journal of clinical psychology · 2026Review
- Facing Change and Uncertainty: Lessons Learned from Autistic Children and their Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Challenges of Alternative Teaching-Learning Faced by Indian Parents of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder During Pandemic Emergency.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Caregiver and student perspectives on school services for students with traumatic brain injury during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicine · 2026Article
- Experiences of typically developing siblings of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2026Article
- Caregivers' Experiences Taking Care of Children and Teenagers With Autism Spectrum Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand: A Qualitative Approach.Journal of child and adolescent psychiatric nursing : official publication of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nurses, Inc · 2025Article
- Article
- Occupational Therapy Interventions in Mental Health During Lockdown: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Expanding Research on Contextual Factors in Autism Research: What Took Us So Long?Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Parent Outcomes Following Participation in Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Autistic Children in a Community Setting: Parent Mental Health, Mindful Parenting, and Parenting Practices.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- An online survey of perspectives towards the impact of the covid-19 pandemic amongst caregivers of adolescents with ASD.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health in Mothers of Autistic Children and Mothers of Children with Fragile X Syndrome.Research in autism spectrum disorders · 2024Article
- Utility of a virtual small group cognitive behaviour program for autistic children during the pandemic: evidence from a community-based implementation study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Parental Experiences of Distance Learning in Families with and without an Adolescent with ADHD/ASD: A Large Qualitative Survey Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Mixed experiences with online learning among neurodiverse youth: Evidence from video recordings of a longitudinal study.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Caregivers and families of autistic people have experienced stress and increase in demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic that may have long-term negative consequences for both their own and their children's mental health. A scoping review was conducted to identify pandemic related demands experienced by caregivers and families of autistic children and youth. The review also consolidated information on coping strategies and parenting-related guidelines that have emerged to help parents meet these demands. Search strategies were approved by a research librarian and were conducted in peer-reviewed and gray literature databases between May 2020 and February 2021. Additional resources were solicited through author networks and social media. All articles were published between December 2019 and February 2021. Article summaries were charted, and a thematic analysis was conducted with confirmation of findings with our knowledge users. Twenty-three published articles and 14 pieces of gray literature were included in the review. The majority of articles characterized and highlighted the increase in demands on caregivers of autistic children and youth during the pandemic globally. Both quantitative and qualitative studies suggest that parents have experienced an increase in stress and mental health-related symptoms during lockdown measures. Findings suggest that families are employing coping strategies, but there no evidence-based supports were identified. The review highlighted the potential long-term impact of prolonged exposure to increasing demands on the mental health and wellbeing of caregivers and families of autistic people, and pointed to a need for the rapid development and evaluation of flexible and timely support programs. LAY SUMMARY: Caregivers and families of autistic children and youth have faced increased demands due to pandemic-related lockdown measures. We reviewed the literature to outline sources of stress, links to their influence on caregiver mental health, and if support programs have emerged to help them. Our findings suggest a number of demands have increased caregivers' risk to mental health challenges, and their potential impact on family wellbeing. Ongoing development of evidence-based supports of all families of autistic children and youth are needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.