Care and support for autistic children that are looked after in UK residential settings- a
systematic review.
CHAPTER -2
Methodology:
Study settings
The present systematic review was carried out in accordance with the guidelines of PRISM
(Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis), and the protocol was
registered in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Review Strategy:
A detailed, systematic search was carried out on electronic databases and was completed by
April 2023. The data bases explored were Pubmed, Web of Sciences, Scopus, Medline,
Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, as well
as Psychoinfo. The literature search for the present study was carried out using key words like
autism in children, health care, prognosis, and intervention in search engines like MeSH
(Medical Subject Headings). For Medline and other databases, supplemental digital content was
adapted. The searches were restricted to the English language, and the latest publications were
preferred and not restricted.
Searches of the grey literature (material unpublished in peer-reviewed journals) were also carried
out in order to prevent overestimation of intervention effects. Hence, grey literature searches
were also carried out simultaneously during the literature search. The grey literature searches
were conducted across Google, Google Scholar, OpenGrey, and EHOS. The following terms
were used during these searches: autism, health care, residential settings, doctor, physician,
nurse, which fits the inclusion criteria.
Methodology
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
The preliminary inclusion criteria for the research was that the article should be in English and
describe the existing care and facilities provided in the management of children with autism. The
intervention and evaluation of care provided in the management of children with autism The
research should follow a scientific protocol. The intervention described should include an
outcome assessment in terms of improvements in health care among children with autism. The
article with a clear ethical clearance for the research was considered.
Studies were excluded if they were not related to children with autism or did not consider the
health care provided to children with autism. In addition, if the studies are not able to extract data
pertaining to the interventions provided to the children with autism, The research focusing on
Care and support for autistic children that are looked after in UK residential settings- a
systematic review.
diagnostics and screening, case reports, mental health, and multiple case studies was all excluded
from the present research.
Screening
The titles and abstracts of all the selected relevant articles were carefully screened and evaluated
during the electronic search. In some cases, the article was found relevant but couldn’t meet the
complete criteria. The full article was reviewed and assessed as to whether to include the
research.
Data Extraction and Synthesis
The data extraction was done after the article selection. The data were extracted by country,
intervention, research methodology, objectives, intervention characteristics, evaluation measures,
and outcome.
Data synthesis was facilitated by developing and applying code to the research papers based on
the study design, study settings, and interventions. The researcher was quite careful in the coding
process so as to ensure proper application of code and retention of context and meaning of data.
Coding was completed by the researcher following data extraction based on the inclusion
criteria, followed by an in-depth study of the research before coding the data. Kirkpatrick's
evaluation hierarchy was used for categorizing the level of evaluation measure. The outcome
data was coded both in unitary and multiple formats. The grading for unitary coding were
negative, positive, not clear, and mixer. Multiple codes were used when necessary.
Analysis
The analysis of the research article was based on the study design for the particular research.
This includes qualitative study design, quantitative study design, and mixed study design. The
sixteen-item tool was used for the assessment of research pertaining to autism and health
services. These studies were rated using a four-point scale; the highest number indicates a higher
strength of the study.