Open Access‘The key to this is not so much the technology. It’s the individual who is using the technology’: Perspectives on telehealth delivery for autistic adults during the COVID-19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Dorota Ali,
Sarah J. O’Brien,
Laura Hull,
Lorcan Kenny,
William Mandy
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
autism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.899
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1461-7005
pISSN - 1362-3613
DOI - 10.1177/13623613221108010
Subject(s) - telehealth , autism , covid-19 , pandemic , psychology , key (lock) , telemedicine , developmental psychology , medicine , computer science , virology , health care , computer security , economics , economic growth , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak , disease , pathology
The COVID-19 pandemic meant that a lot of healthcare services had to move online, such as to video-calls, or to telephone. However, not many studies have looked at how autistic adults feel about this kind of service delivery. It is important to know this, as autistic people may have poorer health than non-autistic people, and they may also struggle to access services more than non-autistic people. This study asked 11 autistic adults (aged 27-67 years), seven family members/carers (aged 44-75) reporting about autistic adults and six service providers about their experiences of accessing or providing a telehealth service. These experiences were collected through interviews, which were then analysed through thematic analysis. Two main themes were: technology aids communication and access - except when it doesn't, and in/flexibility. The themes pointed out some positive aspects of telehealth delivery, including improved communication and decreased stress. The themes also pointed out negative aspects of telehealth, such as increased rigidity of the healthcare system, amplifying pre-existing barriers. Because autistic people have many barriers to accessing healthcare, this study encourages researchers and healthcare providers to think about how such barriers could be addressed through telehealth, and about the possible limitations of telehealth for some autistic people.