Transtorno do espectro autista: uma dimensão das dificuldades observadas sob os domínios de atividade, participação e fatores contextuais no âmbito da CIF

Abstract

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has become an increasingly common disorder and a major public health problem with significant financial, social and family implications. This condition affects areas such as: body structures related to voice and speech, coordination of movement and mobility, communication, and presents other challenges, including the ability to take care of oneself and manage daily life and tasks, participation in school, work and social life. Given the need to investigate the difficulties faced by children with ASD, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is a tool that allows health professionals to draw up a profile of children's abilities and limitations, facilitating the assessment of functioning and health on an individual basis. Objective: To analyze the extent of the difficulties observed in the domains of activity, participation and contextual factors within the scope of the ICF in the municipality of Macapá-AP. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study, carried out in the city of Macapá-AP, which used a semi-structured questionnaire covering sociodemographic information as well as questions related to the domains of activity, participation and contextual factors belonging to the ICF, and was carried out with parents and/or guardians of children with ASD aged between 2 and 10 years. Results: The study had 42 eligible participants, distributed as 32 (76.2%) males and 10 (23.8%) females, with an average age of 5.64 years. It was found that the children with ASD showed impairments in self-care (personal hygiene and eating), social contexts (social interaction and communication) and environmental context (sensory sensitivity), factors which are capable of interfering with the degree of independence, autonomy and engagement in daily activities and routines, both inside and outside their usual environment. Conclusion: In this study, the asymmetry of the data in relation to the frequency of difficulties in the ICF domains was observed, so it is essential to recognize these difficulties in order to help parents and guardians with the care of these children. Future research with a larger sample size is needed to gain a better understanding of the subject in question.