ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2026
The Meaning of Autism Friendly in Hospital Settings: A Scoping Review of the Autism Community's Perspectives.
Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Enhancing emergency department care for individuals with autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan: a systematic review.Frontiers in health services · 2026Pooled it
- Recent Advances in Optimizing Care for Autistic Patients in Health care Settings.Academic pediatrics · 2026Review
- Humanizing medical care for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and their families: the experience of healthcare support in the Comprehensive Medical Care Unit for individuals with ASD (AMITEA).Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Adapting Pediatric Emergency Services for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Phenomenological Approach.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hospitals are motivated to create more autism friendly environments to optimise access and experience for the community. However, there is a lack of clarity in what the term autism friendly in hospital settings means. We conducted a scoping review of four online databases and eleven national autism organisations to determine existing definitions for autism friendly within hospital settings. To operationalise the meaning of autism friendly hospital care, we then reviewed barriers and facilitators to hospital care from the perspective of autistic patients. Within the seven studies that considered the meaning of autism friendly, we found that the term autism friendly within a hospital context is undefined. To operationalise the meaning of autism friendly within hospitals, we identified barriers and facilitators in 16 studies that examined the hospital experience of autistic patients. We identified 19 facilitators and 23 barriers across three categories: people, place, and time. Flexibility underpinned the three categories, with flexible people, flexible place, and flexible timing reported as being integral to improving the hospital experience of patients with autism. Our findings provide clear guidance for creating autism friendly hospital care.
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Registered trials
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