Family Navigation Programs for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review

Family navigation (FN) programs are an integrated care delivery model for children with chronic conditions. However, there is a lack of synthesized evidence of FN programs for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This scoping review aimed to map the current evidence to describe the characteristics and synthesize the effectiveness of FN programs for children with ASD.

We searched the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and ProQuest databases for studies published between 2011 and 2023. After duplicate records were removed, 2 researchers read the titles and abstracts and screened the full texts. Disagreements were resolved by a third researcher. Two researchers independently extracted the data and performed data synthesis in both tabular and narrative formats.

Twenty-seven studies were included. The navigation activities included family assessment, service coordination, psychosocial support, health education, service advocacy, and logistic assistance. Navigators could be professionals or nonprofessionals with bilingual and bicultural backgrounds. FN programs accelerated service access from positive screening to definite diagnosis and to intervention initiation for children with ASD. Positive effects were also detected for the health outcomes of caregivers.

The results were narratively synthesized because of the heterogeneity of the included studies. This study provides guidance for the development and implementation of future FN programs. The findings indicate that the inclusion of solid theoretical frameworks, consistent reporting of intervention components, and conduction of effectiveness-implementation mixed studies may facilitate the generalizability of FN programs in wider contexts.