Assessment of Parental Perceptions of Socio-Psychological Factors, Unmet Dental Needs, and Barriers to Utilise Oral Health Care in Autistic Children.

INTRODUCTION:  Parents' participation is crucial in the dental health intervention of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parenting children with ASD is extremely stressful and challenging. Parents and other caregivers have a responsibility to care for and raise children with ASD. Parental perception of the condition, situational adaptation, and attitude towards the issue are significant indicators of how they will respond and eventually adapt to it.

METHODOLOGY: A comparative, descriptive study was done on parents of 154 autistic children and 235 normal children. An 11-variable questionnaire eliciting various details of socio-psychological factors affecting the utilisation of oral health care was designed and validated. The questionnaire also included parameters regarding barriers to accessing dental services. The dental caries and oral hygiene status of all children were examined using the Basic Oral Health Survey 2013 proforma. Chi-square and independent t-tests were applied to find significant differences between the groups.

RESULTS: A greater number of male children (61.0%) were observed among autistic children. Parental perception regarding socio-psychological concerns with raising an autistic child showed significant differences for all variables between the groups except for assistance in the child's task with 90.2% as against 55% of the parents with non-autistic children. Parents of autistic children were more receptive to the idea of focus group discussion. Decayed teeth were significantly found to be higher in autistic cohorts (2.554 ± 1.616 versus 1.779 ± 1.841). Oral hygiene status was also statistically significant amongst autism-affected children than those who were not at p =0.000.

CONCLUSION: The present study explored various socio-psychological factors of parental perception of autistic children. A better outcome can be suggested when parents gained awareness regarding various strategies and treatment options available for their child's oral health. Furthermore, dental health can be improved by bringing in certain environmental modifications in which the autistic child is groomed.