Abstract

Background: The literature and government policy highlight the clinical significance of Autism Spectrum Disorder, the difficulties experienced by families and the importance of participation in family routines.

Purpose: It is important to conduct further research into this topic because it is common for families with children with ASD (FASD) to experience reduced health and wellbeing as a result of the difficulties associated with maintaining productive and meaningful family routines.

Methods: A review of the literature was conducted which involved searching in relevant health and social care databases including AMED, CINAHL, Psycho Info and Pub Med snowball searching. After the quality check and data extraction of the included eight articles there were three main themes identified; mealtime as a challenging routine, social isolation and routines centred around the child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Results: The findings from the themes identified gaps in the literature which included a lack of research conducted with FASD with adolescent’s particularly in-depth qualitative research, in addition to the Mother’s perceptions of the characteristics of ASD and their impact on family routines. The studies revealed that the characteristics of ASD can have a significant effect on family routines for FASD, highlighting the importance for further research.