Involving parents in the remote diagnosis of Autism during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study
Lilia Albores-Gallo 1, Patricia Zavaleta-Ramírez 1, Marcos Francisco Rosetti 2,3, Paula Padierna-González 4, Priscilla Guevara-Nava 1, Marco Antonio Avila-Olvera 1, Gema Torres-Suarez 5, Tania Vargas-Rizo 1, Luis Salinas-Torres 6, Sofía Arce-Velazquez 7, Cecilia Hasfura-Buenaga 1
1 Hospital Psiquiátrico Infantil Juan N. Navarro, México City, Mexico; 2 Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico; 3 Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Mexico City, Mexico; 4 Fundación Alicia Koplowitz, Madrid, Spain; 5 Centro Integral de Salud Mental (CISAME), Mexico City, Mexico; 6 Centro Comunitario de Salud Mental (CECOSAM), Mexico City, Mexico; 7 Profesionistas Certificados en Detección y Diagnóstico de Autismo (PROCEDDA) Mexico City, Mexico
Objective
To evaluate the feasibility of remotely providing a diagnosis of autism during the Coronavirus Disease pandemic of 2019.
Methods
A child psychiatrist guided the parents’ Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) administration to assess their child’s developmental delay through a video conference. Trained clinicians (n = 10) rated the recorded procedure. Interrater reliability for each item was evaluated using the kappa statistic and percent agreement.
Results
The mean percent agreement across all items was 96%, range = 85.96-100%, and mean weighted kappa = .81, range = .44-1.
Conclusions
This study highlights the feasibility of providing early identification and continuous psychiatric care during a pandemic lockdown.
