The Meaning of Autism Friendly in Hospital Settings: A Scoping Review of the Autism Community’s Perspectives

Abstract

Hospitals are motivated to create more autism friendly environments to optimise access and experience for the community. However, there is a lack of clarity in what the term autism friendly in hospital settings means. We conducted a scoping review of four online databases and eleven national autism organisations to determine existing definitions for autism friendly within hospital settings. To operationalise the meaning of autism friendly hospital care, we then reviewed barriers and facilitators to hospital care from the perspective of autistic patients. Within the seven studies that considered the meaning of autism friendly, we found that the term autism friendly within a hospital context is undefined. To operationalise the meaning of autism friendly within hospitals, we identified barriers and facilitators in 16 studies that examined the hospital experience of autistic patients. We identified 19 facilitators and 23 barriers across three categories: people, place, and time. Flexibility underpinned the three categories, with flexible people, flexible place, and flexible timing reported as being integral to improving the hospital experience of patients with autism. Our findings provide clear guidance for creating autism friendly hospital care.