AUTAPP: Development of an app to aid decision-making with regard to psychosocial interventions for autistic spectrum disorders
Area: Health Sciences
IP: Aymerich Martínez, Marta
Research group: eHealth Lab
Project status: Close
Funding institution: Institute of Health Carlos III - Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
Dates: 2018 - 2020
Summary: The AUTAPP project – which has been carried out in partnership with the Parc Taulí University Hospital with funding from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III – has designed the mobile app TEApp, which seeks to help people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or their relatives communicate with healthcare professionals. It provides a guide with information on ASD and recommendations on how to manage it for family members and professionals working in the fields of education, employment and healthcare.
A set of recommendations for ASD professionals that can help them design studies about psychosocial interventions for people with ASD has also been published as part of the project.
Recommendations for clinical research in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Methodology:
The AUTAPP project summarized previous scientific evidence on the efficacy of psychosocial interventions in the management of ASD with the initial aim of designing and developing an app to support clinical decisions regarding the most suitable psychosocial intervention for each patient.
The studies covered in the systematic review were chosen by searching through the literature using protocolized criteria to identify, select and extract data and assess the quality of the methodology. The data were summarized in evidence tables and classified based on the level of underlying evidence.
Following both a systematic review of the scientific evidence, which included studies on the efficacy/effectiveness of the interventions that were the subject of the project, and a co-creation process to develop the app, the team involved realized that the study needed to change direction. This led to the development of TEApp and the set of recommendations for ASD professionals to help them design studies on psychosocial interventions for people with ASD.
The project was funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Principal investigator: Marta Aymerich
Project team: Marc Alabert, Carme Carrion, Jordi Conesa, Montse Pàmias, Isabel Parra, Toni Perez and Noemí Robles
Research group: eHealth-TransLab
Start date: 1 January 2018
End date: 30 June 2022
Funding institution: Instituto de Salud Carlos III
Call: 2013/00012/002/005